Quantum Materials Program

It is natural to expect bizarre behaviour in extreme situations. But the way electrons behave in quantum materials defies all expectations of traditional science. CIFAR’s Quantum Materials program has an ambitious, wide-reaching agenda aimed at discovering where these unexpected behaviours come from, and finding ways to apply these discoveries to new technologies.

Early indicators suggest that the unusual properties found in quantum materials could be used to create everything from improved wireless devices to new magnetic imaging tools.

Quantum materials are substances that, when subjected to extreme temperatures and other circumstances, produce new and unusual phenomena at the subatomic level. Quantum materials can become endowed with superconductivity, unusual forms of magnetism, strange phase transitions, and other physical qualities that we are only beginning to understand.

CIFAR researchers are also leading the way in creating new understanding of how these properties exist in circumstances, and combinations that were previously thought to be physically impossible. For instance, they are working to explain how copper oxide becomes a superconductor (a material that conducts electricity with zero resistance) at a much higher temperature than anyone had ever seen or hoped for. Such unusual properties are of both theoretical and practical value.

Quantum Materials pursues both an understanding of the unusual electron behaviour that causes things like superconductivity, and the development of applications. The program has already distinguished itself by developing new methods of producing quantum materials, accelerating both basic and applied research.