An insulator has a band structure in which occupied and empty bands are separated by an energy gap. The existence of an energy gap, however, does not guarantee that a material is a simple insulator.

Topological insulators (TIs) are among the hottest topics in condensed matter physics today. They're a bit strange: Their ...

This band structure typically consists of a conduction ... of antibonding orbitals (antisymmetric wave functions). In an insulator the Fermi energy lies in the bandgap between the minimum of ...

"A flat band in a band structure is a very special type of frequency ... into real-world applications such as sound and vibration insulation, energy harvesting for sensors or medical devices ...

A kind of umbilical cord between different quantum states can be found in some materials. Researchers at TU Wien have now ...