Keynotes

Abstract: Since graphene was first peeled from graphite with adhesive tape, atomically thin crystals have become one of physics' most exciting frontiers. In these materials, electrons are confined to a single plane, where they can behave as massless relativistic particles, acquire topological properties, or organize into exotic collective states. Because the layers are held together only by weak van der Waals forces, they can be stacked, strained, and twisted like building blocks, creating designer materials not found in nature. A twist of just one degree, for example, can turn a metal into a superconductor. I will take the audience through this fascinating landscape, highlighting recent developments in engineering quantum matter where physics meets elegant mathematics. These developments may open the way to new forms of computation, from post-silicon transistors to topological quantum computing.

Bio: Jaroslav Fabian studied physics at the Department of Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University in Bratislava (1990). He received his PhD in Physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook (1997). He worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Sankar Das Sarma’s research group at the University of Maryland, USA, and as a Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden. Later, he served as an Associate Professor (Docent) at the University of Graz. Since 2004, he has been a Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Regensburg, where he leads the spintronics research group. He is the chairman of the board of the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1277 and a member of the Cluster of Excellence Center for Chiral Electronics. He is among the world's leading experts in spintronics, focusing on spin phenomena in nanostructures, particularly in two-dimensional materials and van der Waals heterostructures.