Newsletters

List of DMP-Sponsored or Co-Sponsored Focus Topics and Sorting Categories for the 2021 APS March Meeting

DMP-led Focus Topics:

07.01.01 Topological Materials: Synthesis, Characterization and Modeling
Organizers: Sean Oh (Rutgers Univ) and Peter Armitage (Johns Hopkins Uni)
There has been explosive growth in the study of topological insulators in which the combined effects of the spin-orbit coupling and time-reversal symmetry yield a bulk energy gap with novel gapless surface states that are robust against scattering. Moreover, the field has expanded in scope to include topological phases more complex materials such as Kondo systems, magnetic materials, and complex heterostructures capable of harboring exotic topologically nontrivial state of quantum matter. The observation of theoretical predictions depends greatly on sample quality and there remain significant challenges in identifying and synthesizing the underlying materials that have properties amenable to the study of the bulk, surface and interface states of interest. This topic will focus on fundamental advances in the synthesis, characterization and modeling of candidate topological materials in various forms including single crystals, exfoliated and epitaxial thin films and heterostructures, and nanowires and nanoribbons, in addition to theoretical studies that illuminate the synthesis effort and identify new candidate materials. Of equal interest is the characterization of these samples using structural, transport, magnetic, optical, scanning probe, photoemission and other spectroscopic techniques, and related theoretical efforts aimed at modeling various properties both in the surface/interface and in the bulk.

07.01.02 Dirac and Weyl semimetals: Materials and Modeling
Organizers: Zhiqiang Mao (Penn State Univ) and Dima Pesin (Univ Virginia)
The field of topological semimetals has developed dramatically over the past few years. After the initial prediction and discovery of Dirac and Weyl semimetals – materials whose low energy excitations can be described by the Dirac or Weyl equation of high-energy physics – the field has now expanded to include new low-energy excitations not possible in a high-energy setting. Semimetals with different degeneracy at crossing points or lines have been predicted. Transport theories and effects have been predicted and proposed in order to measure a small subset of the topological characteristics of the semimetals (such as Chern numbers). Furthermore, semimetals whose existence is guaranteed by filling constraints derived from the presence of certain orbitals at certain points in specific lattices have also been mentioned in the literature.

Distinct from conventional low carrier density systems, Dirac, Weyl and other semimetals are expected to possess exotic properties due to the nontrivial topologies of their electronic wave functions. A subset of the novel properties predicted include Berry phase contributions to transport properties, chiral anomaly, quantized nonlinear transport under circularly polarized light, protected Fermi arc surface states, suppressed scattering, optical control of topology, landau level spectroscopy, superconductivity, and non-local transport. While promising candidate materials exist for many but certainly not all of the topological semimetals, many phenomena have yet to be clearly resolved.

This focus topic aims to explore Dirac, Weyl and other new semimetals and the novel phenomena associated with them. We solicit contributions on predictions, new materials synthesis and characterization, new phenomena in topological semimetals, as well as studies on both conventional and unconventional semimetals, both in the bulk and on the surfaces of samples that accentuate the non-trivial topological character of the new semimetals.

07.01.03 Topological Superconductivity: Materials and Modeling
Organizers: Peng Wei (UC Riverside), Ulrich Welp (Argonne NatI Lab) and Daniel Agterberg (Univ Wisc. Milwaukee)
Topological superconductors are superconductors characterized by topological invariants associated with the band structure of the Bogoliubov quasiparticles. They have been a focus of significant experimental and theoretical efforts in view of their relevance to fundamental physical and mathematical concepts, and potential for quantum computation. Along with the search for bulk materials candidates, there has been much recent progress in studies of atomically thin films, artificially engineered structures, and the surfaces of bulk materials. This Focus Topic will cover topological superconductivity and the closely related non-centrosymmetric superconductivity in new experimental settings involving transition metal dichalcogenides, topological insulators, Weyl semi-metals, FeSe-based systems, graphene, engineered heterostructures, semiconducting nanowires, atomic chains and Shiba states, junctions with ferromagnets, quantum Hall states, and driven systems and Floquet states. This Focus Topic will also cover the new understanding of bulk materials candidates such as Sr2RuO4 and the emerging opportunities in platforms such as twisted bilayers of 2D materials, and advances in strategies for quantum information processing using topological superconductivity.

07.01.04 Magnetic Topological Materials
Organizers: Claudia Felser (MPI Dresden), Sang-Wook Cheong (Rutgers Univ) and James Analytis (UC Berkeley)
The intersection of long-range magnetic order with topological electronic states is developing into an exciting area in condensed matter physics. A variety of exotic quantum states have been predicted to emerge, such as the quantum anomalous Hall effect, Weyl semimetals, and axion insulators. There are many open questions that in these materials that have inspired rapid theoretical and experimental developments. For example, although the exciting phenomena listed above have been predicted, only a few experimental realizations have been found to date. However, there are several candidate materials that have been proposed or synthesized very recently, some in just the last year. This will be a focus session on theoretical predictions, experimental methods that are sensitive to the topological nature of magnetic materials, and the discovery of magnetic topological materials in both single-crystal, thin film, and heterostructure morphologies.

08.01.02 Dopants and Defects in Semiconductors
Organizers: Matthew McCluskey (Washington State Univ) and Zakaria AI Balushi (UC Berkeley)
Defects profoundly affect the electronic and optical properties of semiconductors. They control charge carrier concentration, transport, and recombination rates. They also regulate mass-transport processes involved in migration, diffusion, and precipitation. The success of microelectronic and optoelectronic semiconductor devices has relied on the engineering of beneficial defects while mitigating unwanted defects. Understanding, characterizing, and controlling dopants and defects is essential for technologies such as lighting and power electronics, quantum information sciences, memory, and thin film solar cells. This focus topic is the physics of dopants and defects in existing and emerging semiconductors, from the bulk to the atomic scale, encompassing point, line, and planar defects, including surfaces and interfaces. We solicit abstracts on experimental, computational, and theoretical investigations of the electronic, structural, optical, and magnetic properties of dopants and defects in elemental and compound semiconductors, nanostructured materials such as nanowires and quantum dots, photodetectors, and light emitters. We especially encourage submissions on (1) defect management in wide-band-gap electronic materials such as diamond, group-III nitrides, and gallium oxide, (2) defects in inorganic semiconductors for photovoltaics, and (3) defects in two-dimensional materials for single photon emission and quantum sensing. In addition, we welcome abstracts on relevant techniques such as materials processing and advanced characterization.

08.01.03 Multiferroics, Magnetoelectrics, Spin-electric Coupling, and Ferroelectrics
Organizers: Jan Musfeldt (Univ Tennessee), Turan Birol (Univ Minnesota) and Mark Pederson (Univ Texas, El Paso)
This focus topic covers the challenge of coupling magnetic and electric properties in diverse insulating materials as well as ferroelectricity in different materials classes.
Topics include:

• Ferroelectricity in inorganic and organic materials
• Bulk multiferroic and magnetoelectric oxides
• Heterostructured magnetoelectrics such as thin film, pillar and nanostructured materials.
• Metal-organic frameworks, organometallics, molecule-based materials, organic thin films and other soft materials that can exhibit magnetoelectric properties
• Spin-electric coupling in single molecule magnets
• Coupling of spin crossovers and spin state ordering to electric and strain properties of materials
• Magnetoelectric domains and domain walls
• Magnetoelectric coupling at surfaces
• Band-filling and bandwidth control in complex oxides (a prerequisite to harnessing charge/orbital order, magnetic transitions and metal insulator transitions)
• Other novel theoretical and experimental routes to multifunctional cross coupling of magnetic, electric and strain properties.

08.01.04 Organometal Halide Perovskites: Photovoltaics and Beyond
Organizers: Hemamala Karunadasa (Stanford Univ) and Naomi Ginsberg (UC Berkeley)
Organometallic halide perovskites have recently caused a surge of interest in their optoelectronic properties and applications due to their remarkable performance as semiconductor light absorbers in solar cells. As a new class of semiconductors, these materials are interesting not only because of the hybrid organic-inorganic structure, but also for their superior properties such as high defect tolerance, strong optical absorption, low recombination rate, ambipolar charge transport, and tunable physical properties. Rapid progress has been made in the demonstration of photoelectronic perovskite devices for photovoltaics, light emission, lasing and photodetection. Possible structural asymmetry, due to lattice distortion by organic cations, gives rise to ferroelectricity and large Rashba spin-orbit coupling in the hybrid perovskites, which provides more functionality to devices with electric field control and/or utilization of spin. However, the underlying physics of many unusual properties remains elusive, such as the hysteretic current-voltage relationships, low recombination rate, long spin lifetime and ferroelectric behavior. The practical use of these hybrid perovskite calls for more in-depth understanding of their fundamental properties and versatile strategies to tune and optimize the materials properties. In this Focus Topic, we expect contributions on broadly-defined experimental and modeling studies of the optical, electronic, structural and defect properties of the organometallic halide perovskites. Advancements in materials engineering and the development of practical applications are also encouraged.

09.01.01 Fe-based Superconductors
Organizers
Rafael Fernandes (Univ Minnesota), Donghui Lu (Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource) and Ming Yi (Rice Univ)
More than a decade after their discovery, Fe-based superconductors (FeSCs) continue to fascinate the materials and condensed matter physics communities, not only due to their potential to lead to higher superconducting transition temperatures, but also as a platform to investigate correlated quantum matter. Considerable synthesis, experimental, and theoretical progress has been made in elucidating the defining properties of these materials, including the role of electron-electron interactions in shaping their normal state properties; the intertwining between different ordered states involving spin, orbital, charge, and lattice degrees of freedom; the relevance of nematicity, magnetism, and quantum criticality to the pairing interaction; and the unique effects associated with the multi-orbital nature of these systems. At the same time, there is progress in understanding the unifying principles that may optimize the superconductivity of the FeSCs and connect them with other unconventional superconductors such as cuprates, heavy fermions and organic charge-transfer salts. More recently, FeSCs have become promising materials to explore topological phenomena both inside and outside the superconducting phase. In addition to advancing our fundamental understanding of superconductivity and correlated electron systems, the unique material parameters of FeSCs (relatively high Tc, low anisotropy, high critical fields) offer new approaches to the design of applications such as superconducting wires, magnets and thin-film devices. This focus topic will cover the pertinent recent developments in the materials growth, experimental measurements, and theoretical approaches, and survey the potential for discovering new applications and new superconducting systems with still higher transition temperatures.

11.01.01: 5d/4d Transition Metal Systems
Organizers: Bing Lv (Univ Texas, Dallas), Shalinee Chikara (Florida State Univ/National High Magnetic Field Lab) and Haidong Zhou (Univ Tennessee)
Materials with 5d and 4d orbitals occupy a unique niche due to the competition between the crystal-field, spin-orbit coupling and Coulomb repulsion energy scales, as well as exchange interactions. These materials pose a challenge for observing and calculating behavior in the strongly spin-orbit coupled regime due to competing spin, charge and lattice degrees of freedom. As a consequence of the intricate interplay between various interactions, 5d and 4d materials exhibit intriguing properties that have been observed in experiment and theory, including unexpected insulating behavior, topological spin liquids and unconventional superconductivity.

This focus topic covers experimental and theoretical work on compounds containing 5d/4d elements, e.g. iridium, osmium, rhodium or ruthenium and others. These materials can be found for a variety of two- and three-dimensional lattices with varying degree of frustration and correlations. Emergent phases include magnetism, topological behavior, spin liquids, superconductivity and metal-to-insulator transitions. The topic is not limited to oxides.

12.01.01: 2D Materials: Synthesis, Defects, Structure and Properties
Organizers: Liuyan Zhao (Univ Michigan) and Robert Hovden (Univ Michigan) 
The interest in two dimensional (2D) materials is rapidly spreading across all scientific and engineering disciplines due to their exceptional chemical, mechanical, magnetic, optical and electrical properties, which provide not only a platform to investigate fundamental physical phenomena but also promise solutions to the most relevant technological challenges. 2D materials find their immediate applications in field effect transistors, gas sensors, bio-detectors, mechanical resonators, optical modulators and energy harvesting devices with superior performances that have already been demonstrated in prototype devices. Furthermore, recent progress has also shown that heterostructuring, doping, intercalation and phase engineering in these 2D materials will enable unprecedented structures and functionalities with new opportunities and great potentials. However, the true impact will only be made if the initial breakthroughs are transformed into commercial technologies. A major challenge towards the commercialization of 2D materials is the scalable and controllable production of high- quality layers in a cost-effective way. So far, the best quality samples of 2D materials have been obtained through micromechanical exfoliation of naturally occurring single crystals. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is the most widely used bottom-up technique to grow large area 2D-materials. Several top-down approaches have also been adopted based on bulk liquid phase chemical and electrochemical exfoliation. Each type of method possesses its unique strength to enable materials for specific research or application needs, whereas on the other hand has its own challenge to be addressed.
This focus topic will cover:

• Experimental, theoretical, and computational studies illuminating various aspects of the CVD growth process including, e. g., layer number and stacking geometry control, the formation of topological and structural defects, grain size and grain boundary control, and the effect of substrate chemistry, crystallography and strain methods of doping, epitaxy, intercalation or phase engineering
• Templated or bottom-up growth or top-down synthesis of nanostructures and integration with other materials
• Characterization and modeling of the structural, mechanical, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties of the synthesized 2D materials
• Design and discovery of van der Waals magnets toward room temperature devices.

12.01.02: 2D Materials: Semiconductors
Organizers: Nicholas Borys (Montana State Univ), Xia Hong (Univ Nebraska-Lincoln) and Patrick Vora (George Mason Univ)
Research exploring 2D semiconductors is rapidly expanding to include a wide variety of layered materials and their heterostructures with diverse properties such as strong many-body interactions, strong spin-orbit coupling effects, spin-, polarization-, and valley-dependent physics, and topological physics. This Focus Topic will cover experimental and theoretical/computational work related to 2D semiconductors and their heterostructures, including large bandgap materials such as the chalcogenides (e.g. MoS2, WSe2, GaSe, and ReSe2), phosphorene and h-BN, small bandgap materials with possible topological properties (such as silicene, germanene, stanine, and WTe2), magnetic semiconductors (e.g. CrGeTe3, CrI3, and Mn:MoS2), ferroelectric semiconductors (e.g., In2Se3 and CuInP2S6), and other emerging new semiconductors. We encourage abstracts discussing results on monolayers, few-layers, and heterostructures, including twisted bilayers and their nanostructures. Topics of interest include quantum transport, mobility engineering, the understanding and engineering of the dielectric environment and defects on optical, electronic and many-body phenomena, piezoelectric and ferroelectric effects, spin-, polarization-, and valley-dependent phenomena, exciton physics including Moire excitons, properties of domain walls, as well as magnetic, multiferroic, thermal and mechanical properties of 2D semiconductors. Processing and measurement techniques developed to probe van der Waals semiconductors are also welcome.

12.01.03: Devices from 2D Materials: Function, Fabrication and Characterization
Organizers: Deji Akinwande (Univ Texas, Austin), Henri Happy (Univ Lille) and Mario Lanza (Suzhou Univ)
With the rapid progress in the research on 2D materials, including graphene and other layered material systems, a wide variety of properties and functionalities have emerged that have broad scientific and technological significance. The rational design of devices consisting of 2D materials calls for improved understanding of their intrinsic and extrinsic properties that are critical to the device functionality, as well as their integration with other device components. The development of these 2D materials-based devices also requires solutions to problems associated with material functionalization, structural fabrication, and device characterization. This Focus Topic will cover experimental and theoretical/computational work related to devices based on the growing array of 2D materials that exhibit a wide variety of behaviors – such as metallic, semiconducting, insulating, magnetic, ferroelectric, superconducting, and various strongly correlated electronic phenomena. These 2D materials include (but are not limited to) graphene, transition-metal chalcogenides (e.g., MoS2, WSe2, NbSe2, TaS2, FeSe etc.), silicene, germanane, stanene, phosphorene, magnets (e.g. CrI3, Fe3GeTe2, Cr2Ge2Te6, etc.), ferroelectrics (e.g. SnTe, In2Se3, etc.), topological insulators (e.g., Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3, etc.), layered oxides (e.g., BSCCO), and large band gap materials such as h-BN. Alternative non-2D materials that form clean van der Waals interfaces with 2D materials, such as CaF2, may be also covered in this Focus Topic.

We invite contributions on topics including: (i) the functionalization, fabrication, measurements, and modeling of devices based on the unique properties of 2D materials in the single- or multi-layered forms as well as their heterostructures; (ii) alternative non-2D materials that form van der Waals interfaces with 2D materials; (iii) proof-of-principle studies focusing on the electronic, magnetic, dielectric, optical, mechanical, thermal, and chemical behaviors of 2D materials relevant for device applications; (iv) performance statistics, device-to-device variability and yield of 2D materials based electronic devices; and (v) interfacial, environmental, and system-based properties and behaviors inherent to the application of 2D materials in future devices.

12.01.04: 2D Materials: Metals, Superconductors, and Correlated Materials
Organizers: Goran Karapetrov (Drexel Univ), Kenneth Burch (Boston College) and Katja Nowack (Cornell Univ)
In the last few years, there has been an explosion of activities in the field of two-dimensional materials beyond graphene. Much of the initial effort focused on the rich optoelectronic properties of semiconducting compounds like the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and black phosphorus. Some of the TMDs display an insulator-to-metal transition upon gating which seems to be driven by electronic correlations. Others are metallic (or semi-metallic) over the entire temperature range while presenting gapped electronic ground states, such as superconductivity or charge-density waves. Semi-metallic WTe2 and orthorhombic MoTe2 (or ZrTe5) are claimed to possess unique topological features in their electronic band structures apparently leading to anomalous transport properties and perhaps also to an unconventional superconducting state. Both superconducting and charge density wave properties seem to acquire new twist in these systems: in monolayer NbSe2 superconductivity was shown to survive up to extremely high magnetic fields when field is applied along its planar direction. Similarly, electronic correlations are likely to be important for the high superconducting transition temperature observed in monolayer FeSe. On the other hand, charge density wave exhibits chiral electronic order was found recently in TiSe2 and this could provide significant impetus for studies of optoelectronic properties of TMDs. Ground states with different coexisting correlated electronic phases have been identified in several of these materials, which opens new opportunities for probing interactions between different ordered states with high resolution temporal and spatial probes.

This focus topic will concentrate on two-dimensional materials displaying gate or strain induced phase-transitions or ground states with either non-trivial topologies or broken-symmetries for which new and relevant physical phenomena are likely to emerge.

12.01.05 Computational Design and Discovery of Novel Materials
Organizers: Sinead M. Griffin (Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab) and Geoffroy Hautier (Univ Louvain; Dartmouth College)
The development of predictive computational simulation for accelerating the discovery and rational design of functional materials is a challenge of great contemporary interest. Advances in algorithms and predictive power of computational techniques are playing a fundamental role in the discovery of novel functional materials, with successful examples in catalysis, batteries, and photoelectrochemistry. High¬-throughput computation and materials databases have recently enabled rapid screening of both molecules and solid¬-state compounds with multiple properties and functionalities. This focus topic will cover research efforts to accelerate materials discovery and/or development by building the fundamental knowledge base and applying novel data driven approaches to design materials with specific and targeted functional properties from first principles. Abstracts are solicited in the areas of interest that include computational materials design and discovery; development of accessible and sustainable data infrastructure; development of new data analytic tools and statistical algorithms; advanced simulations of material properties in conjunction with new device functionality; data uncertainty quantification; advances in predictive modeling that leverage machine learning and data mining; algorithms for global structure and property optimizations; and computational modeling of materials synthesis. The technical applications include but are not limited to electronic and optoelectronic materials, magnetic materials and spintronics, energy conversion and storage materials (thermoelectrics, batteries, fuel cells, photocatalysts, photovoltaics, ferroelectrics), metallic alloys, and two-dimensional materials. Contributions that feature strong connection to experiments are of special interest.

13.01.01: Nanostructures and Metamaterials
Organizers: Houtong Chen (Los Alamos Natl Lab), Amit Agrawal (NIST) and Wenshan Cai (Georgia Tech) 
Recent experimental, theoretical and computational advances have enabled the design and realization of micro-/nano-structured materials with novel, complex and often unusual electromagnetic properties unattainable from natural materials. Such nanostructures and metamaterials provide unique opportunities to manipulate electromagnetic radiation over a broad range of frequencies, from ultraviolet and visible to terahertz and microwave. These concepts have also been extended to enable acoustic/mechanical metamaterials and metasurfaces. The transition from three-dimensional nanostructures and metamaterials to planar two-dimensional metasurfaces further facilitates structure fabrication, material integration, novel functionality, and system miniaturization, thereby finding a wide range of potential applications. This focus topic will highlight recent progress in the physical understanding, design, fabrication, and applications of these artificial materials. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: nanophotonics, plasmonics, near-field and quantum optics, optofluidics, energy harvesting, and the emerging interface of condensed matter and materials physics with biological, chemical and neural sciences.

13.01.02: Electron, Exciton, and Phonon Transport in Nanostructures
Organizers: C. Tom Harris (Sandia Natl Lab), Bill Rice (Univ Wyoming) and Tzu-Ming Lu (Sandia Natl Lab)
Understanding and controlling how heat, charge, and energy flow at the nanoscale is critical for realizing the potential of nanomaterials in next generation device technologies. A particular challenge, and opportunity, is understanding how elementary excitations such as phonons, electrons, holes, excitons, and plasmons interact with each other and are influenced by interfaces, confinement, and quantum effects in nanostructures. This is particularly true for heterogeneous nanoscale materials and interfaces with varying degrees of electronic and phononic couplings, and distinct thermal and electrical impedances. Structural components used in hybrid nanostructures can be made of semiconductors, metals, molecules, liquids, etc.

Contributions are solicited in areas that reflect recent advances in experimental measurement, theory, and modeling of transport mechanisms in nanoscale materials and interfaces. Specific topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Electron-phonon coupling and heat generation by hot charge carriers
• Dynamics of energy and charge flow in nanostructured hybrid materials
• Ultrafast dynamics of charge carriers, excitons, and phonons in nanostructures and across nanoscale interfaces
• Charge, heat, and exciton transport through metal-semiconductor interfaces, inorganic-organic interfaces, and molecular junctions
• Correlating nanoscale interface structure & chemistry with charge, heat, and exciton transport
• Non-equilibrium heat transport and phonon-bottlenecks effects
• Influence of dimensionality, nanostructuring, and surface states on charge, heat, and exciton transport
• Energy transfer in hybrid nanomaterials including dots, wires, plates, polymers, etc
• Excitonic nanomaterials with light-harvesting and lighting properties utilizing both solid-state and molecular components
• Plasmonic nano- and meta-structures for light harvesting and concentration
• Near-field heat transfer and energy conversion in nanogaps and nanodevices
• Hybrid structures with interacting exciton and plasmon resonances
• Hybrid nanomaterials for photo-catalytic applications utilizing excitons and plasmons

13.01.03: Complex Oxide Interfaces and Heterostructures
Organizers: Shyam Dwaraknath (Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab), Darrell G. Schlom (Cornell Univ) and Yuri Suzuki (Stanford Univ)
Emergent electronic and magnetic states at complex oxide interfaces raise exciting prospects for new fundamental physics and technological applications. These novel properties arise as a result of interfacial charge transfer, exchange coupling, orbital reconstructions, proximity effects, dimensionality, and mechanical and electric boundary conditions. This Focus Topic is dedicated to progress in the fabrication, methodologies, and knowledge in the field of complex oxide thin films, heterostructures, superlattices, and nanostructures. Synthesis, characterization, theory, and novel device physics are emphasized. Specific areas of interest include, but are not limited to: the growth of novel oxide thin films and heterostructures; the control of magnetic, electronic, ordering, ionic conduction, phase transitions, interfacial superconductivity, multiferroicity, magnetotransport, spin-orbit coupling properties; and developments in theoretical prediction and materials-by-design approaches. Advances in techniques to probe and image electronic, structural, and magnetic states at heterostructure interfaces are also emphasized. Note that overlap exists with other DMP and GMAG focus sessions. As a rule of thumb, if complex oxides and their heterostructures are at the core of the investigation, then the talk is appropriate for this focus topic.

13.01.04: Materials for Quantum Information Science
Organizers: Joe Heremans (Argonne Natl Lab), Xuedan Ma (Argonne Natl Lab) and Jinkyoung Yoo (Los Alamos Natl Lab)
Technologies for processing of information are at a cross-road. Until now, advances in information processing have been mainly achieved by miniaturization and integration, such as scaling down transistor-based semiconductor technologies and heterogeneous integration in an architecture, the traditional methodology is rapidly approaching its physical limits. A new class of information processing that explores possibilities beyond classical computing architectures is now underway with particular emphasis on quantum phenomena that complement existing computing architectures. Quantum information processing, revolutionizing ways of generation, transmission, and computation of information, must be physically implemented by appropriate materials. To that end, new materials and physical properties are needed along with close collaborations among physicists, materials scientists, and electrical engineers. This Focus Topic intersects the materials discovery, devices physics, and nanoscale structure communities for quantum information processing (QIP) within the common theme of understanding the underlying physical interactions in materials for quantum information processing. Given the exploratory nature of this field, contributions are solicited broadly among the following topics:

• Superconducting materials and devices
• Trapped ion systems
• Solid-state artificial atoms (quantum dots, quantum wells)
• Solid-state quantum defects (point-defects in wide-gap semiconductors, rare-earth ions)
• 2D materials and defects in 2D materials
• Topological materials
• Hybrid quantum systems
• Magnetic systems including molecular magnets and molecular spin qubits
• Optical quantum computing devices
• Biological, polymer, or inorganic materials for QIP
• First principles theory/simulations of QIP materials.

Other ideas that may be exploratory and less well defined at this time are also encouraged; however, suitable talks for this focus topic should focus on the (quantum) materials and physics germane to QIP.

14.01.01: Surface and Interface Science of Organic Molecular Solids, Films, and Nanostructures
Organizers: Emily Bittle (NIST) and Daniel Dougherty (NC State Univ)
Organic molecular solids are a challenging materials class since numerous “weak” interactions, all of comparable strength, control structures and functional properties. The promise of high-performance optoelectronics, designer sensors, electrode work function control, and bioelectronic devices make the payoff for addressing this challenge high. In these applications surfaces and interface are decisive in their impact on carrier injection and transport, and on structure and morphology control. This Focus Topic will convene to discuss new experimental and theoretical/computational results aimed at both basic and applied physics underpinning surfaces, interfaces, and thin films of organic solids. Research of interest includes the structure, properties, charge dynamics, and applications of organic adsorbates, monolayer assemblies, thin films, crystals, and nanostructures.

19.01.07: Tools for Exploring Materials Physics at the Frontier of Time and Length Scales
Organizers: Ben McMorran (Univ Oregon) and Hermann Durr (Univ Uppsala)
The exploration of materials properties and the discovery of new materials is intimately connected with advances in tools that allow to synthesize, characterize, and model materials at fundamental length, time, and energy scales. Those scales have reached the level of atomic control, i.e. the constituents of any materials on the nanoscale, but recently, approaches to explore materials with atomic precision across multiple length, time and energy scales have gained increased interest. This includes the synthesis of multidimensional artificial materials that don’t exist in nature, materials far from equilibrium that only exist for ultrashort time scales and novel ways to characterize properties of quantum and nanosystems using unprecedented techniques. Computational efforts using high-performance tools are starting to provide essential support in this endeavor. State-of-the-art techniques using neutrons, fully coherent wave fronts at diffraction limits with electrons and photons, and novel advances with scanning probes are currently being developed and utilized by a growing community working in materials physics. This focus topic on recent advances in this important field that will provide a coherent view onto current capabilities and future perspective that are of interest to the broad materials physics community.

DMP Co-Sponsored Focus Topics led by other APS Units
(submit invited talk nominations through primary sponsoring Unit)

• 01.01.02 Organic Electronics (DPOLY, FIAP, DMP) [same as 08.01.06]
• 01.01.16 Molecular Glasses (DPOLY, DSOFT, DCP, DMP) [same as 02.01.34, 05.01.10]
• 01.01.18 Polymers and Soft Solids at Interfaces: Tribology, Wear, Rheology and Interactions (DPOLY, DSOFT, GSNP, DFD, DMP) [same as 02.01.36, 03.01.39, 20.01.13]
• 01.01.27 Polymer Crystals and Crystallization (DPOLY, DSOFT, DMP) [same as 02.01.42]
• 04.01.08 Biomaterials: Structure, function, design (DBIO, DMP, DSOFT, DPOLY) [same as 02.01.47, 01.01.41]
• 08.01.07 Optical Spectroscopic Measurements of 2D Materials (FIAP, DMP, GIMS) [same as 19.01.06]
• 10.01.01 Magnetic Nanostructures: Materials and phenomena (GMAG, DMP)
• 10.01.02 Emergent Properties of Bulk Complex Oxides (GMAG, DMP, DCOMP) [same as 16.01.32]
• 10.01.03 Magnetic Oxide Thin Films and Heterostructures (GMAG, DMP, DCOMP) [same as 16.01.33]
• 10.01.04 Chiral Spin Textures and Dynamics, Including Skyrmions (GMAG, DMP)
• 10.01.05 Spin transport and Magnetization Dynamics in Metals-Based Systems (GMAG, DMP, FIAP) [same as 22.01.04]
• 10.01.06 Spin-Dependent Phenomena in Semiconductors, including 2D Materials and Topological Insulators (GMAG, DMP, FIAP, DCOMP) [same as 08.01.01, 16.01.36]
• 10.01.07 Frustrated Magnetism (GMAG, DMP)
• 10.01.08 Low-Dimensional and Molecular Magnetism (GMAG, DMP)
• 16.01.01 Matter in extreme environments (DCOMP, DMP)
• 16.01.02 Building the bridge to exascale: applications and opportunities for materials, chemistry, and biology (DCOMP, DBIO, DCP, DPOLY, DMP, DAMOP) [same as 04.01.33, 05.01.14, 01.01.48, 06.01.08]
• 16.01.03 Electrons, phonons, electron-phonon scattering, and phononics (DCOMP, DMP)
• 16.01.04 First-principles modeling of excited-state phenomena in materials (DCOMP, DCP, DMP) [same as 05.01.15]
• 16.01.05 Machine learning for quantum matter (DCOMP, GDS, DMP) [same as 23.01.02]
• 16.01.13 Physics and effects on transport of ion-ion correlation in electrolyte materials (DCOMP, DCP, DMP) [same as 05.01.17]