Abstract

In this talk I will highlight some discoveries my research has made by the creation of novel materials using chemical synthesis accompanied by electronic and structural modification, and energy scale tuning methods. These include the realisation of a low-dimensional spin triplet Bose Einstein condensate, the creation of an iron pnictide superconductor with a record high superconducting temperature induced solely by applied strain, and the solution of the mysterious pseudogap electronic structure in the underdoped cuprate superconductors. I will discuss future goals of my research programme ‘Physics of Novel Materials’, which will build a network both within Cambridge and internationally and thereby seek to create and study novel materials beyond those currently known and understood. Focus areas will include optimisation by structural tuning of high temperature cuprate superconductors, realisation of correlated topological insulators in 5d-oxides with strong spin-orbit coupling and their electronic modification to yield novel superconductors and spin liquids, new topological semiconductors, and frustrated rare-earth magnets and metal-organic frameworks. In particular, my talk will focus on the area of strong spin-orbit coupled 5d correlated oxides, energy efficient applications of which are anticipated to include novel superconductors with relevance to power generation and transmission, electric field induced metal-to-insulator switching, and topological qubits for powerful computation.