Electronic Liquid Crystals

INC COLLOQUIUM – OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Title: Electronic Liquid Crystals
Speaker: A. P. Mackenzie, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
Where: Sala de conferencias módulo 00, Facultad de Ciencias.
When: Tuesday 04 November, 12h30

ABSTRACT:

A major development in condensed matter physics over the past twenty years has been the study of collective electronic states that organise into symmetry-lowered configurations similar to those seen in liquid crystals.  Empirically, these are often seen in the vicinity of unconventional superconductivity, further heightening interest in the topic. In this talk I will give a kind of ‘progress report’ on where things stand. I will emphasise that although we know much more about these states than we used to, the key outstanding questions are sufficiently important that this will remain a central field of research for the foreseeable future.