Physicists Silke Bühler-Paschen (left) of Vienna University of Technology and Qimiao Si of Rice University at Rice in November 2021. (Photo by Tommy LaVergne/Rice University)

Physicists use ‘electron correlations’ to control topological materials

Physicists have discovered how to switch topological states on and off in a strongly correlated metal using magnetic fields, a breakthrough made possible by the collective behavior of electrons that dramatically amplifies the material’s response to external magnetic fields and could enable new applications in quantum computing and sensor technology.