BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Semimetals Unlimited: Unbounded electrical and thermal transport p
 roperties in three-dimensional nodal semimetals - Dr Brian Skinner\, MIT
DTSTART:20180420T131500Z
DTEND:20180420T141500Z
UID:TALK103009@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Bartomeu Monserrat
DESCRIPTION:Modern electronics is built on semiconductors\, whose utility 
 comes from their ability to operate on either side of the conductor-insula
 tor dichotomy. For practical applications\, however\, semiconductors face 
 certain unavoidable limitations imposed by the physics of Anderson localiz
 ation and by the disorder introduced through doping. In this talk I discus
 s whether these same limitations apply to nodal semimetals\, which are a n
 ovel class of three-dimensional materials that have a vanishing density of
  states (like insulators) but no gap to electron-hole excitations (like co
 nductors). I show that\, surprisingly\, in a certain class of nodal semime
 tals the electronic mobility can far exceed the bounds that constrain dope
 d semiconductors\, becoming divergingly large even with a finite concentra
 tion of charged impurities. I then discuss the thermoelectric effect in se
 mimetals\, and show that their electron-hole symmetry allows for a thermop
 ower that grows without bound under the application of a strong magnetic f
 ield. This large thermopower apparently enables the development of devices
  with record-large thermoelectric figure of merit. 
LOCATION:TCM Seminar Room\, Cavendish Laboratory
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR