Bite-Sized Breakthroughs: Physics Looks at Nontrivial Excitations
From left: Professor of Physics Lars English, Anastasiia Halchenko '27 and Carys Chase-Mayoral '26.
Student-faculty physics project looks at topological circuits
by Tony Moore
Curiosity drives everything at Dickinson. In labs, studios, archives and communities around the world, students and faculty are asking questions big and small—and often finding surprising answers. Here's a look at a recent query.
Department: Physics & Astronomy
Researchers: Anastasiia Halchenko ’27 (neuroscience, computer science), Noah Lape ’26 (physics, mathematics, data analytics), Simon Diubenkov ’27 (physics), Carys Chase-Mayoral ’26 (physics, music) and Professor of Physics Lars English
Project:
“Nontrivial excitations in topo-electronic lattices": Constructing and characterizing lattices of special geometries that support topologically interesting oscillatory modes. One such mode is the topologically protected edge mode that appears at the boundaries of such lattices, and another is the compact localized state that can exist in systems with flat bands.”
Why it matters:
As English explains: “Topological lattices have garnered broad interest in recent years in the physics and engineering communities due to their promise for various technological applications, ranging from noise-resistant Qubits at the heart of quantum computers, to robust unidirectional or surface transport of acoustic and light energy in mechanical/optical structures. Furthermore, flat band lattices in condensed-matter systems have been identified as promising candidates for novel superconductivity. In two published papers and one paper in preparation, our Dickinson team has studied the properties of such novel phenomena in the context of macroscopic electrical lattices.”
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Published December 9, 2025