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Topic · Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Topological Materials and Phenomena

Topological Materials and Phenomena is a research topic within Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics. Science Explorer counts 25k research works in it since 1954. 27.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the properties and applications of topological insulators and superconductors, including phenomena such as quantum spin Hall effect, Majorana fermions, Dirac and Weyl semimetals, photonic topological insulators, and quantum anomalous Hall effect. It also delves into the potential for topological quantum computation.

  • Topological Insulators
  • Superconductors
  • Quantum Spin Hall Effect
  • Majorana Fermions
  • Dirac Semimetals
  • Weyl Semimetals
  • Photonic Topological Insulators
  • Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect
  • Chiral Anomaly
  • Topological Quantum Computation
Research works
25k
fractional, since 1954
In the world top 10%
7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
27.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+57%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Topological Materials and Phenomena research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (2.4k and 1.1k works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 2.4k works
  2. 2 United States 1.1k works
  3. 3 Japan 486 works
  4. 4 Germany 400 works
  5. 5 India 393 works
  6. 6 Russia 208 works
  7. 7 France 185 works
  8. 8 South Korea 161 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 139 works
  10. 10 Spain 138 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 42.8%United States: 19.7%Japan: 8.7%Germany: 7.1%6 others listed: 21.8%43%largest
China2,400 · 42.8%United States1,104 · 19.7%Japan486 · 8.7%Germany400 · 7.1%6 others listed1,224 · 21.8%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Topological Materials and Phenomena research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Topological Materials and Phenomena research, followed by The University of Tokyo and Nanjing University.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 87 works
  2. 2 The University of TokyoJapan 79 works
  3. 3 Nanjing UniversityChina 63 works
  4. 4 University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 60 works
  5. 5 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 58 works
  6. 6 National Institute for Materials ScienceJapan 56 works
  7. 7 Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 51 works
  8. 8 Peking UniversityChina 51 works
  9. 9 Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced MicrostructuresChina 47 works
  10. 10 Tsinghua UniversityChina 45 works

Who are the leading researchers in Topological Materials and Phenomena?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Topological Materials and Phenomena include David Vanderbilt, Kenji Watanabe and Takashi Taniguchi.

  1. 1 David Vanderbilt United States 7.3k citations
  2. 2 Kenji Watanabe Japan 6.4k citations
  3. 3 Takashi Taniguchi Japan 6.2k citations
  4. 4 David J. Singh United States 5.1k citations
  5. 5 Marvin L. Cohen United States 4.7k citations
  6. 6 J. I. Cirac Germany 4.3k citations
  7. 7 Mercouri G. Kanatzidis United States 4.3k citations
  8. 8 M. S. Dresselhaus United States 4.2k citations
  9. 9 P. Zoller Austria 4.2k citations
  10. 10 S. Das Sarma United States 3.9k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Topological Materials and Phenomena research done?

The largest centres of Topological Materials and Phenomena research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Shanghai (China) and Tokyo (Japan). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Wako, San Sebastian and Rehovot.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 557 works
  2. 2 Nanjing China 191 works
  3. 3 Shanghai China 173 works
  4. 4 Tokyo Japan 152 works
  5. 5 Hefei China 147 works
  6. 6 Guangzhou China 117 works
  7. 7 Wuhan China 109 works
  8. 8 Singapore Singapore 85 works
  9. 9 Shenzhen China 84 works
  10. 10 Changsha China 81 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. WakoJP · 35.6 works47×
  2. San SebastianES · 25.3 works28×
  3. RehovotIL · 28.2 works26×
  4. JülichDE · 27.7 works17×
  5. WurzburgDE · 34.3 works13×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Topological Materials and Phenomena than the world average.

See Topological Materials and Phenomena on the map

Where is the best place to study Topological Materials and Phenomena?

Among universities, judged by research, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Southern University of Science and Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%60%mean 38.14%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Hong Kong University of Science and Technology: 27, 46.1%Southern University of Science and Technology: 38, 32.3%Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 39, 54.2%Singapore University of Technology and Design: 10, 40.0%Nanyang Technological University: 29, 44.7%Weizmann Institute of Science: 28, 36.7%Nanjing University: 64, 25.1%Princeton University: 32, 39.6%Beijing Institute of Technology: 51, 36.4%The University of Tokyo: 80, 26.3%Massachusetts Instit…Hong Kong University…Singapore University…Southern University …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyHong Kong 78.946.1%10.0×27 +129.2%
2 Southern University of Science and TechnologyChina 73.932.3%10.3×38 +827.7%
3 Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States 73.554.2%9.2×39 +29.1%
4 Singapore University of Technology and DesignSingapore 71.140.0%16.0×10 +868.9%
5 Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 68.844.7%5.3×29 +185.4%
6 Weizmann Institute of ScienceIsrael 68.236.7%28.4×28 +95.0%
7 Nanjing UniversityChina 67.925.1%11.9×64 +138.5%
8 Princeton UniversityUnited States 65.839.6%10.9×32 +47.2%
9 Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 65.736.4%6.2×51 +212.3%
10 The University of TokyoJapan 65.426.3%9.6×80 +71.0%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Topological Materials and Phenomena research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 57% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Topological Materials and Phenomena.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.