A research group led by Professor Takashi Takahashi at WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University has succeeded in endowing the "massless" Dirac electrons in a topological insulator with a finite mass in a controllable manner. This work was collaborated with Associate Professor Takafumi Sato at Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, and Associate Professor Kouji Segawa and Professor Yoichi Ando at the Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University. The mechanism to achieve this result is entirely new and unexpected in the framework of the conventional theory. This remarkable achievement would accelerate the development of next-generation energy-saving devices and quantum computers.

 The research result has been published online in Nature Physics on August 14, 2011.

More information (Japanese) 

[Contact]

(About the research)

Professor Takashi Takahashi

WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University

Tel：+81-22-795-6417

E-mail：t.takahashi*arpes.phys.tohoku.ac.jp (Replace * with @)

Associate Professor Takafumi Sato

Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University

Tel：+81-22-795-6477

E-mail：t-sato*arpes.phys.tohoku.ac.jp (Replace * with @)

Professor Yoichi Ando

The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University

Tel：+81-6-6879-8440

E-mail：y_ando*sanken.osaka-u.ac.jp (Replace * with @)

(About JST projects)

Tetsuya Ishii

Department of Inclusive Research Administration, Innovation Headquarters,

Japan Science and Technology Agency

Address: Sanban-cho building, 5 Sanban-cho Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 102-0075, Japan

Tel: +81-3-3512-3524, Fax：+81-3-3222-2064

E-mail：crest*jst.go.jp (Replace * with @)