Project 7 Electronic materials with reduced dimensionality Project leader: L. Forr (EPFL) Participating members: Ph.

Aebi (UniFR), L. Degiorgi (ETHZ), . Fischer (UniGE), L. Forr (EPFL), M. Grioni (EPFL), T. Giamarchi (UniGE), F. Mila (EPFL), H.-R. Ott (ETHZ), H. M. Rnnow (EPFL). Summary The leitmotif for this project is based on the fact that low-dimensional systems have features which are absent or less expressed in 3D materials, such as spin-charge separation or strong fluctuations. Using state-of-the-art experimental and theoretical methods available in our research pool, we wish to contribute to a better understanding of compounds with reduced dimensionality (1D and 2D). We will address especially the manifestation and consequences of spin-charge separation in 1D, the role of lowdimensional fluctuations, inter-chain and inter-plane couplings and the specifics of the strong electronelectron, electron-phonon and spin interactions, and last but not least the role of disorder. Materials which show superconducting, charge, orbital and magnetic ordering will be in the focus of our interest. Besides understanding their fundamental aspects, we wish to learn how one can tune a desired response of these systems with external parameters, such as electric field, pressure or magnetic field, having in mind possible applications. We suspect that this tuning is much easier to achieve for lowdimensional structures than for 3D materials. Project 7 Electronic materials with reduced dimensionality Project leader: L. Forr (EPFL) Participating members: Ph. Aebi (UniFR), L. Degiorgi (ETHZ), . Fischer (UniGE), L. Forr (EPFL), M. Grioni (EPFL), T. Giamarchi (UniGE), F. Mila (EPFL), H.-R. Ott (ETHZ), H. M. Rnnow (EPFL). Summary The leitmotif for this project is based on the fact that low-dimensional systems have features which are absent or less expressed in 3D materials, such as spin-charge separation or strong fluctuations. Using state-of-the-art experimental and theoretical methods available in our research pool, we wish to contribute to a better understanding of compounds with reduced dimensionality (1D and 2D). We will address especially the manifestation and consequences of spin-charge separation in 1D, the role of

lowdimensional fluctuations, inter-chain and inter-plane couplings and the specifics of the strong electronelectron, electron-phonon and spin interactions, and last but not least the role of disorder. Materials which show superconducting, charge, orbital and magnetic ordering will be in the focus of our interest. Besides understanding their fundamental aspects, we wish to learn how one can tune a desired response of these systems with external parameters, such as electric field, pressure or magnetic field, having in mind possible applications. We suspect that this tuning is much easier to achieve for lowdimensional structures than for 3D materials. Project 2 Materials for future electronics Project leader: A. Morpurgo (UniGE) Participating members: M. Bttiker (UniGE), L. Forr (EPFL), T. Giamarchi (UniGE), A. Morpurgo (UniGE), P. Paruch (UniGE), Ch. Renner (UniGE), M. Sigrist (ETHZ), J.M. Triscone (UniGE), D. van der Marel (UniGE). Summary We will use electronic devices and nanostructures for the investigation of materials with novel electronic properties. The two main classes of materials addressed by the project are heterostructures of transition metal oxides and carbon-based materials (graphene, nanotubes, and organic semiconductors). The focus will be on phenomena that are not accessible experimentally in the bulk. Examples are electrostatically tunable superconducting junctions and SQUIDs in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces, interaction effects of Dirac electrons in graphene, and polaronic transport in organic field-effect transistors. The project has a significant theoretical component, which will aim both at analyzing specific devices studied experimentally, and at searching for new physical phenomena in devices based on correlated electron systems. The device oriented approach to the study of new materials has the potential to contribute to the development of future electronic applications, and aims at achieving the level of control characteristic of mesoscopic physics. Project 3 Electronic materials for energy systems and other applications Project leader: . Fischer (UniGE) Participating members: M. Abplanalp (ABB), M. Decroux (UniGE), D. Eckert (Bruker), . Fischer (UniGE), R. Flkiger (UniGE), M. Kenzelmann (PSI), G. Patzke (UniZH), Ch. Renner (UniGE), N. de Rooij (EPFL), G. Triscone (Hepia Geneva), J.-M. Triscone

(UniGE), A. Weidenkaff (Empa), K. Yvon (UniGE). This project is carried out with six participating industries Summary The goal of this project is to develop several applications resulting from research carried out in MaNEP. Although the scientific and technical topics vary from one sub-project to another, each has a clear practical application as its goal, and nearly all correspond to collaborations between a MaNEP group and an industrial company or a collaboration between different groups. The projects for phase III cover: (a) applied superconductivity with research on HTS coated conductors for high field magnets, MgB2 wires, HTS coated conductor fault current limiters; (b) oxides for energy harvesting with research on MEMS based on ferroelectric films on Si, on devices based on oxide nano particles, and a new project on giant piezo resistance silicon cantilevers; (c) applications of artificial superlattices including supermirrors for neutron guides and novel ferroelectric multilayers for tunable filters; (d) hydrogen detectors and other sensors with the idea of using a hydrogen-induced metal insulator transition in an intermetallic compound as one sensing property and the large surface to volume ratio of nanoparticles as another; (e) new surface treatments for microcomponents using an STM-inspired device to write thin layers of different materials into conducting surfaces. Project 4 Electronic properties of oxide superconductors and related materials Project leader: D. van der Marel (UniGE) Participating members: B. Batlogg (ETHZ), D. Baeriswyl (UniFR), L. Degiorgi (ETHZ), . Fischer (UniGE), E. Giannini (UniGE), M. Grioni (EPFL), D. Jaccard (UniGE), J. Karpinski (ETHZ), H. Keller (UniZH), J. Mesot (PSI), E. Morenzoni (PSI), H. M. Rnnow (EPFL), M. Sigrist (ETHZ), D. van der Marel (UniGE). Summary Project 4 focuses on the electronic properties of oxide superconductors and related materials, and the microscopic origin of superconductivity and other states of matter which they present. An important aspect of this program is the exploration of new routes towards novel superconducting materials. One part of this effort rests on extending known classes of materials, including high-Tc cuprates, by means of chemical substitution, while another will be the exploration of completely different directions in materials research. The program focuses on the investigation of the physical properties of the various states of matter, such as those containing resonating valence bonds, magnetism, orbital currents and density waves, and superconductivity. These will be studied at different conditions of stoichiometry, pressure, carrier density, magnetic field, and temperature. The aim of the experiments is to gain a deeper understanding of the

competition between the superconducting phase and the other possible states of matter. The experiments will be complemented by numerical simulations based on modern computational techniques such as dynamical mean field theory. More importantly, to make real progress in this field novel and theoretical ideas are crucial. The emphasis of the theoretical efforts within this program is for this reason on original and qualitatively new approaches to physics of strongly correlated matter. Project 5 Novel electronic phases in strongly correlated electron systems Project leader: M. Sigrist (ETHZ) Participating members: D. Baeriswyl (UniFR), G. Blatter (ETHZ), L. Degiorgi (ETHZ), . Fischer (UniGE), E. Giannini (UniGE), D. Jaccard (UniGE), M. Kenzelmann (PSI), E. Morenzoni (PSI), H.-R. Ott (ETHZ), T. M. Rice (ETHZ), M. Sigrist (ETHZ), M. Troyer (ETHZ), D. van der Marel (UniGE). Summary Today, a wide class of materials exhibiting special properties due to the presence of strong local correlation between the position and the motion of electrons is known. The present project will complement the study of the transition metal oxides in Project 4 with work on heavy fermion materials, featuring electrons in partially filled localized 4f-shells weakly hybridized with the conduction bands. A special property of these materials is the presence of closely competing electronic groundstates, with the quantum phase transitions occurring between them as external parameters are varied. Superconductivity appearing in the vicinity of a magnetic quantum phase transition or a valence crossover is an example of special interest. These phenomena occur, for instance, in various Ce-based superconductors, such as the Ce-115 series, the non-centrosymmetric superconductors such as CePt3Si, CeRhSi3, and CeCoGe3 and CeCu2Si2. The investigation of these unconventional superconductors has to address a range of issues, such as the anomalous high-field low-temperature properties of the mixed superconducting phase, the consequences for the vortex matter induced by high magnetic fields, and the appearance of unusual quasiparticle spectra, in particular near surfaces and interfaces. Several of the heavy fermion compounds, and more generally 4f-electron systems, will be investigated for their diverse and intriguing magnetic properties, with the aim to elucidate the role of the nearly localized f-electrons under various circumstances. The project will also include the study of magnetic and optical properties of non-centrosymmetric transition metal silicides and related materials, with the goal of addressing the effects of correlation, band structure, quantum fluctuations, and spin-orbit coupling. Emphasis will be given to a wide range of spectroscopic studies which profit from the unique combination of techniques available within MaNEP. On the theoretical side, collaborative efforts with experimental studies will be accompanied by the development of new analytic and computational techniques which can be used to analyze various correlated electron systems and their intriguing electronic phases.