Quantum materials
Research on quantum materials brings together scientists working on a variety of problems at the frontiers of physics, materials science and engineering. The properties of these systems are uniquely defined by quantum mechanical effects that remain manifest at high temperatures and macroscopic length scales.
This joint Nature Physics and Nature Materials Insight explores the physics of quantum materials, their synthesis and design, the control over their properties, and the functionality that emerges from these properties.
This Insight is produced with the support of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Simons Foundation. As always, Nature Research takes sole responsibility for the editorial content.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems Initiative (EPiQS) is a $90-million funding program aiming to stimulate breakthroughs in the science of quantum materials and to advance understanding of the basic organizing principles of complex quantum matter. EPiQS is an integrated research program that incorporates materials synthesis, experiment and theory, and that crosses the boundaries among physics, chemistry and materials science. EPiQS supports blue sky research and focuses funding on a relatively small community of outstanding scientists. The supported scientists are provided with substantial resources, the freedom to explore uncertain research directions, and ample opportunities to exchange ideas and foster collaborations. Substantial resources are dedicated to materials synthesis and development of new experimental techniques, given that materials discovery and new probes of materials’ properties are major drivers of scientific progress yet are difficult to support through traditional funding sources.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation fosters path-breaking scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements and preservation of the special character of the Bay Area. Visit Moore.org or follow @MooreFound.
The Simons Foundation’s mission is to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences.
The foundation makes grants in mathematics and physical sciences, life sciences, autism research and education and outreach. In 2013, the foundation launched an intramural research division, the Flatiron Institute, which develops computational methods to drive progress in the basic sciences.
The Mathematics & Physical Sciences division supports research in mathematics, theoretical physics and theoretical computer science through funding for individuals, institutions and science infrastructure. Programs that support individuals include the Simons Investigators program, which provides long-term research funding to outstanding scientists; the Simons Fellows program, which enables faculty to extend sabbaticals from one academic term to a full year; and the Collaboration Grants for Mathematicians program, which provides funding for travel and visitors to mathematicians who don’t have other significant grant support. The foundation’s Targeted Grants to Institutes program enables institutions to extend their missions in new ways, and also supports the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at the University of California, Berkeley.
The foundation also funds more than 10 Simons Collaborations: large-scale, goal-driven projects that enable scientists, often from different fields, to work together to address fundamental questions of major scientific importance.
