Scientists from CAS established the Topological Electronic Materials Database

Predicting the topological properties of specific materials often requires extensive specialized calculations by computational physics experts. The research team at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a new method for automatically calculating the topological properties of materials. In principle, only the symmetry of the high-symmetry points in the energy bands of crystalline materials needs to be calculated to obtain partial or even complete information about the topological invariants of the system, greatly simplifying the calculation process. Using this method, the research team discovered over 8,000 topological materials among nearly 40,000 materials, which is more than ten times the total number of topological materials found in the past decade. With the support of the Computer Network Information Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an online database of topological electronic materials was established, providing theoretical basis and clues for the discovery and physical property research of new topological materials in experiments. The research results were published on February 27, 2019 in the journal Nature. Marcel Franz, a professor at the University of British Columbia, commented, "This is a treasure trove containing thousands of (theoretically) topological materials, providing material for experimental physicists to work on for many years to come." "These user-friendly and open search tools allow people to quickly confirm the topological properties of materials.".

---