Topological materials attract great interest and may provide the basis for a new era in materials development. In Science Advances, physicists around Andreas Elben, Jinlong Yu, Peter Zoller and Benoit Vermersch now present a new measuring method that allows to identify and characterize so-called topological invariants on various experimental platforms.

Read more: New protocol identifies fascinating quantum states

For his scientific achievements in the field of quantum physics, experimental physicist Rainer Blatt received an honorary doctorate from the Complutense University of Madrid on Friday in Madrid. On Wednesday, Blatt was already accepted as a foreign member of the Spanish Academy of Sciences.

Read more: Honorary Doctorate for Rainer Blatt

Today, most quantum experiments are carried out with the help of light, including those in nanomechanics, where tiny objects are cooled with electromagnetic waves to such an extent that they reveal quantum properties. Now, a team of physicists led by Oriol Romero-Isart at the University of Innsbruck and the Austrian Academy of Sciences is proposing to cool microparticles with sound waves instead.

Read more: Cooling magnets with sound

The experimental physicist Simon Baier from the research group led by Francesca Ferlaino will receive the IQOQI Dissertation Prize 2019, a prize worth 1,000 euros, which will be awarded for the sixth time this year and honors scientific excellence in the field of quantum physics.

Read more: Simon Baier receives IQOQI Dissertation Prize