Annica Black-Schaffer

I am a professor and head of the Quantum Matter Theory research program at the Department of Physics and Astronomy. The work in my research group is mainly focused on the mechanisms and properties of unconventional and topological superconductivity. We use detailed models to study superconductivity in many different novel materials and superconducting hybrid structures.

For more information, please see our group webpage.

I am a Full Professor in Quantum Matter Theory at the Department of Physics and Astronomy. I received my Ph.D. in condensed matter theory in 2009 from Stanford University. I then spent 1.5 years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, NORDITA, in Stockholm, before moving to Uppsala. My research interests primarily spans superconductivity, topological states of matter, and strongly correlated electron systems.

The research in my group is currently mainly focused on the mechanisms and properties of unconventional and topological superconductors. We mostly use low-energy effective models to study the properties of the superconducting state in many different novel materials. One of our interests is topological superconductors with Majorana fermions. Approximately one can say that a Majorana fermion is half an electron, or more accurately, in a system with Majorana fermions the wave function of an electron has split up into two separate parts. We are also working on unconventional superconductivity in honeycomb-like materials, such as graphene, which are also prone to host topological superconductivity. Another larger area of current interest is expanding the mechanisms and materials for odd-frequency superconductivity, especially in spin-orbit coupled materials and multiband superconductors.

Our work is supported by external grants from the European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant 2017, ERC Consolidator Grant 2022), the Swedish Research Council (VR Consolidator Grant 2022, VR project and starting grants), and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (Wallenberg Scholar 2024, Wallenberg Academy Fellow 2014 with prolongation 2019, and Wallenberg project grants). Previous support from the Göran Gustafsson Foundation, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Prize Sweden, the Wenner-Gren Foundations, and the Carl Trygger Foundation is also gratefully acknowledged.

For more information, please see our group webpage.