MateriAlZ Seminar: Claudia Felser

Abstract
Chirality is a very active field of research in organic chemistry, closely linked to the concept of symmetry. Topology, a well-established concept in mathematics, has nowadays become essential to describe condensed matter [1]. At its core are chiral electron states on the bulk, surfaces and edges of the condensed matter systems, in which spin and momentum of the electrons are locked parallel or anti-parallel to each other. Magnetic and non-magnetic Weyl semimetals, for example, exhibit chiral bulk states that have enabled the realization of predictions from high energy and astrophysics involving the chiral quantum number, such as the chiral anomaly, the mixed axial-gravitational anomaly and axions [2,3]. Chiral topological crystals exhibit excellent chiral surface states [4,5] and different orbital angular momentum for the enantiomers, which can be advantageous in catalysis. The potential for connecting chirality as a quantum number to other chiral phenomena across different areas of science, including the asymmetry of matter and antimatter and the homochirality of life, brings topological materials to the fore [6].

[1] M. G. Vergniory, B. J. Wieder, L. Elcoro, S. S. P. Parkin, C. Felser, B. A. Bernevig, N. Regnault, Science 2022, 376, 6595. [2] J. Gooth et al., Nature 2017, 547, 324. [3] J. Gooth et al., Nature 2019, 575, 315. [4] B. Bradlyn, J. Cano, Z. Wang, M. G. Vergniory, C. Felser, R. J. Cava and B. A. Bernevig, Science 2016, 353, aaf5037. [5] N. B. M Schröter, S. Stolz, K. Manna. F. de Juan, M. G. Vergniory, J. A. Krieger, D. Pei, T. Schmitt, P. Didin, T. K. Kim, C. Cacho, B. Bradlyn, H. Borrmann, M. Schmidt, R. Widmer, V. N. Strocov and C. Felser, Science 2020, 369, 179. [6] C. Felser, J. Gooth, preprint arXiv:2205.05809

Bio
Claudia Felser studied chemistry and physics at the University of Cologne, completing both her solid-state chemistry diploma (1989) and her doctorate in physical chemistry (1994). She joined the University of Mainz in 1996 as an assistant professor (C1) becoming a full professor in 2003 (C4). She is currently the director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden. In 2001 Felser received the Order of Merit (Landesverdienstorden) from the state Rheinland Pfalz for the foundation of the first NAT-LAB for school students at the University Mainz. She is a fellow of the IEEE Magnetic Society, APS, IOP, CIFAR Canada, and the MRS-India. In 2018, she became a member of the Leopoldina, the German National Academy of Sciences, and ACATECH, the German National Academy of Science and Engineering. Claudia Felser was awarded the APS James C. McGroddy Prize and was elected to the United States National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and National Academy of Sciences (NAS). In 2022 she was awarded the Max Born Prize and Medal of DPG and IOP, the Liebig Medal of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh), and the Wilhelm-Ostwald-Medal of the Saxon Academy of Science. Her research foci are the design, synthesis, and physical characterization of new quantum materials, particularly Heusler compounds and topological materials for energy conversion and spintronics.