DoE awards $10.75 million to Ames National Laboratory to research topological semimetals

Ames National Laboratory will receive $10.75 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) over four years to establish the Center for the Advancement of Topological Semimetals (CATS)

The DoE is providing a total of $100 million to Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) across the country to advance scientific breakthrough and enhance U.S. economic and energy security leadership. Ames National Laboratory will develop new topological semimetals and new functionalities in mid-infrared photodetection, light harvesting, spintronics and other areas.

“Topological semimetals have moved from purely theoretical concepts to realizable materials in just a few years,” Iowa State University Professor Rob McQueeney said. “The discovery of new magnetic topological semimetals, their implementations in thin films and heterostructures, and control of their properties are key goals for the Center. This needs to be done with close connections to theory, which continues to develop rapidly. The field has continued to move forward, even in the few short months since the proposal was written. Our first task is to convene a kick-off meeting with the research team later this summer.”

The DoE Office of Science established the EFRCs program in 2009 to gather researchers from different disciplines and institutions to work on multi-dimensional teams. The Ames EFRC will bring together researchers from Iowa State University, Harvard University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California-Santa Barbara and the University of Waterloo in Canada.