APS Division of Condensed Matter Physics

APS Division of Condensed Matter Physics
Name	APS Division of Condensed Matter Physics
Formation	1949
Headquarters	American Physical Society Headquarters, College Park, Maryland
Type	Division of a professional society
Leader title	Chair
Parent organization	American Physical Society

APS Division of Condensed Matter Physics is a professional division within the American Physical Society that represents researchers in condensed matter physics, encompassing experimentalists and theorists working on solids, liquids, soft matter, and quantum materials. The division connects members through annual meetings, prizes, and publications, and interfaces with institutions, laboratories, and funding agencies to shape research priorities. Its activities bridge communities associated with universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Harvard University, and national laboratories including Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

History

The division traces origins to post-World War II organizing within the American Physical Society when groups around figures like Philip W. Anderson, John Bardeen, Walter Kohn, and Lev Landau sought focused forums for solid state and condensed matter topics. Early conferences featured work by Nobel laureates such as Neils Bohr collaborators and contemporaries like Enrico Fermi protégés, and later developments incorporated research from centers like Bell Labs, IBM Research, and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Over decades the division evolved alongside milestones including the discovery of the quantum Hall effect, advances in superconductivity including the BCS theory and high-temperature superconductivity from groups at University of Cambridge, University of Tokyo, and University of Geneva, and revolutions in graphene and topological insulators associated with researchers at University of Manchester and Princeton University.

Mission and Scope

The division's mission aligns with the American Physical Society's charter to advance and diffuse knowledge of physics; it concentrates on condensed matter subfields connected to institutions like Cornell University, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, and facilities such as the Large Hadron Collider-adjacent instrumentation collaborations and neutron sources at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Scope includes electronic structure studies tied to methods developed by Walter Kohn and Lars Onsager-related statistical mechanics, phenomena in low-dimensional systems explored at University of California, Santa Barbara, and emergent topics like quantum information interfaces involving groups at California Institute of Technology and Yale University. The division engages with funding and policy entities including the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and international partners such as the European Research Council.

Organization and Governance

Governance follows an elected structure with positions including Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, and an Executive Committee drawn from academics at places like University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Chicago, University of Florida, and representatives from national labs including Sandia National Laboratories. Committees oversee nominations, program selection, diversity and inclusion initiatives influenced by organizations like American Association of Physics Teachers and collaborations with societies such as the Institute of Physics and Materials Research Society. The division coordinates its bylaws with the American Physical Society Council and works with editorial boards of journals published by groups like American Institute of Physics and international publishers.

Awards and Fellowships

The division administers and endorses awards recognizing contributions in condensed matter research, honoring scientists in the tradition of prizes like the Nobel Prize in Physics, Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize, and other recognitions paralleling awards from Wolf Foundation, Kavli Prize, and national academies including the National Academy of Sciences. Recipients have included researchers affiliated with Princeton University, ETH Zurich, Max Planck Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Seoul National University. The division also supports early-career fellowships, travel awards, and dissertation prizes to members at institutions such as University of Michigan, University of Texas at Austin, and McGill University.

Meetings and Conferences

The division organizes the annual March Meeting—one of the largest gatherings in physics—with parallel sessions covering subfields where speakers hail from MIT, Stanford, Oxford, Imperial College London, Tsinghua University, and government labs like Brookhaven National Laboratory. Programs feature symposia on topics related to spintronics, quantum materials, nanotechnology, and soft condensed matter with invited lecturers drawn from awardees of the Dirac Medal, Breakthrough Prize, and other honors. The division partners with topical meetings, summer schools at institutions like Les Houches and workshops sponsored by Simons Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and international conferences such as ICM-adjacent sessions.

Publications and Outreach

The division promotes dissemination through conference proceedings, collaborations with journals like Physical Review Letters, Physical Review B, and edited volumes connected to publishers such as Springer and Elsevier. Outreach activities include public lectures with museums and centers like the Smithsonian Institution and science festivals involving universities and laboratories, as well as advocacy for diversity initiatives similar to programs by American Physical Society committees and partnerships with Sloan Foundation-funded projects. Educational resources often cite seminal works by authors from Princeton University Press and course materials originating at institutions like Caltech and ETH Zurich.

Impact and Contributions to Condensed Matter Physics

The division has shaped research agendas that contributed to breakthroughs in superconductivity, quantum Hall effect, topological matter, and two-dimensional materials including graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides studied at University of Manchester and Cornell University. Its conferences have fostered collaborations leading to technologies impacting industry partners such as Intel Corporation, Samsung, and Toyota Motor Corporation through advances in spintronics and materials design influenced by methods from density functional theory pioneers and experiments at facilities including National Synchrotron Light Source and Diamond Light Source. Members have gone on to lead national bodies including National Institutes of Health-linked initiatives, the National Research Council, and university departments across continents in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Category:American Physical Society divisions Category:Condensed matter physics organizations