Boulder School 2016: Topological Phases of Quantum Matter

July 11-August 5, 2016

Scientific Coordinators

Jason F. Alicea (Caltech)
Joseph Checkelsky (MIT)
Victor Gurarie (Boulder)
Michael Hermele (Boulder)
Director: Leo Radzihovsky (Boulder)

Topological phases of quantum matter comprise a vibrant research area in condensed matter physics.  The field originated with the discovery and explanation of quantum Hall effects in the early 1980s but has since vastly expanded to include topological insulators and superconductors, quantum spin liquids, topological semimetals, and more.  These systems feature many remarkable properties – such as anomalous gapless boundary modes and fractionalized excitations with exotic exchange statistics – of interest both from a fundamental physics and applications viewpoint.  The 2016 Boulder school will survey modern efforts to classify, characterize, detect, and manipulate topological phases in a variety of experimentally relevant contexts.


Group Photo

2016 Boulder School Group Photo


Public Lecture

Leon Balents, Professor of Physics, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Californa at Santa Barbara, “Strange Stuff: A Second Quantum Revolution” in Duane Physics GB130 on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 7:00pm-8:30pm. Click here for YouTube video.

2016 Boulder Summer School Public Lecture


Lecturers and seminar speakers

  • L. Balents (KITP/UCSB)
  • X. Chen (Caltech)
  • S. Frolov (Pittsburgh)
  • L. Fu (MIT)
  • P. Jarillo-Herrero (MIT)
  • C. Kane (UPenn)
  • K. Kanoda (Tokyo)
  • E.-A. Kim (Cornell)
  • M. Levin (Chicago)
  • A. Ludwig (UCSB)
  • R. Melko (Waterloo/PI)
  • C. Nayak (Microsoft/UCSB)
  • N. P. Ong (Princeton)
  • N. Read (Yale)
  • D. Sheng (CSU-Northridge)
  • A. Turner (Johns Hopkins)
  • A. Vishwanath (Berkeley)
  • F. von Oppen (FU-Berlin)
  • X.-G. Wen (MIT)
  • S. White (Irvine)
  • A. Yazdani (Princeton)