April 13 , 2007
2 p.m. Lecture Room 5

Quantum Hall Effect: Physics and Applications

Klaus v. Klitzing, 1985 Nobel Laureate

Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Heisenbergstr.1, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany

Basic research on the most important device in microelectronics, a silicon field effect transistor, led in 1980 to the discovery of the Quantum Hall Effect (QHE). Electrical measurements on such a device demonstrated, that a new type of electrical resistor can be realized, a resistor with a well defined value which depends exclusively on fundamental constants. Today, the word QHE  is a synonym for the more general topic of electrons in strong magnetic fields which has connections not only to solid state physics but also to other research areas like astrophysics (edge states in gravity and black hole physics), high energy physics (quantum Hall quarks) and metrology (fundamental constants). This broad interest in QHE physics explains the high publication rate of about one publication per day.

The talk will focus on two topics, the application of the QHE in connection with our international system of units (SI units) and some new developments in quantum Hall physics.