The project mainly deals with topological phases that arise in two-dimensional electron systems. In contrast to the majority of electronic phases in condensed matter, which are described by a local order (such as (anti-)ferromagnetism, superconductivity or superfluidity), these phases are characterized by a global (topological) order. Such a topological order is insensitive to a local perturbation of the system and is at present intensively investigated as a potential route to fault-tolerant quantum computation. The project is focused on two themes: (a) topological superconductivity in general and in the context of quantum Hall states, and (b) investigation of potentially topological and other many body phases in the graphene bilayer.

MES project leader: Milica Milovanovic, Scientific Computing Laboratory, Institute of Physics

CNRS project leader: Mark Oliver Goerbig, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Orsay