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 surfaces conduct electricity, yet their interiors do not, instead acting as ...

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 ...

Mott insulators are a unique class of materials that defy conventional band theories of solids. Though they are expected to conduct electricity, they exhibit insulating properties, particularly at low ...

"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 shown that this "umbilical cord" is generic to many materials.

Topological insulators (TIs) are among the hottest ... turning their focus to the material's band structure. Quantum mechanics tells us that the electron energy levels in an isolated atom are ...