Abstract: Quantum materials in high magnetic fields

Many of today’s most interesting and potentially useful materials display aspects that are explicable only by applying quantum models that approach the edge of our current understanding. These quantum materials need informative experiments to characterise their properties and permit new theories to be tested. Applied magnetic field is a uniquely powerful tool for investigating quantum materials, allowing one to deliberately tip the delicate balance of interactions that link their electron, spin, orbital and lattice degrees of freedom. The field provides a continuous, reversible and directional handle that couples directly to quasiparticles, superconducting pairs or magnetic moments, providing information on the nature, anisotropy and strength of the interactions present in the system. Magnetic fields can be used to break time-reversal symmetry, lift degeneracy, tune energy gaps, overcome disorder, foment quantum-critical transitions and potentially stabilise new states of matter. In this presentation, I will briefly review how experiments at high-field facilities are used to understand quantum materials and present some recent data to illustrate the power of the applied field.