Topological Insulators and Topological Superconductors

A well written overview- survey of a field that is filled with controversy (or at least unfinished issues like time reversal symmetry) as well as potential, just beneath the surface. Prior to the publication of this text, there was no "go to" combination reference- text that covered the whole specialized field. You could go back to 2008- 2010 and other conferences, and especially search for keyword expert Shoucheng Zhang, Stanford's "world leading" researcher in this field, with work featured and referenced in many journal articles, as well as a major contributor to  Quantum Theory of Condensed Matter: Proceedings of the 24th Solvay Conference on Physics . In fact, Bernevig, Hughes and Zhang, known as BHZ in this field, were the first to propose a practical alternative (given temperature constraints) to graphene via HgTe and CdTe, as a theoretical model of the practical possible existence of the quantum spin Hall state.Haldane et al have done a magnificent job of keeping the, at this writing, rapidly changing research up to date. Even so, there has been no previous graduate level text starting at the roots (which, excluding quantum computation basics such as the Hall effect, dating back to 1879, are only a decade old, with spin issues being researched beginning in 1990), and bringing us up to date on the most cutting edge algorithms, research, controversies and theories. Both insulators and superconductors are niches in topology that are now becoming whole careers (by topology I'm talking about sandwiches of materials practically, and the new state of quantum entanglement theoretically, not the math specialty alone, ie insulating on the inside/ conducting on the outside, etc.). As a physics and patent reviewer at payroy dot com, I see numerous new patent drafts in these two areas today. If you're a grad student on the horns of specialization dilemmas, this text will definitely give you enough of both overview and the specific math and physics to help you decide if this is your cup of tea. It truly is an all encompassing survey as well as reference, as well as text!The writing is quite good from a textual point of view, and with journal articles and symposium summaries added, could clearly become the centerpiece of a specialty graduate course in TI's, TS's or both. The authors don't hold back any punches on the computational complexity, but seem to be compassionate and experienced enough as teachers as well as researchers to have covered the basic learning building blocks. Not as friendly as an undergrad text, and not nearly as friendly as a self teaching text, the book nevertheless will appeal to a wide variety of both professors and researchers. If you are in the field, the references alone are well worth the price, as the authors took the time to reference a lot of computationally related books and articles that are a little broader than just TI's and TS's, to make this an excellent reference in quantum computational applications in general.Good balance of pure research and practical applications as well, at least from my limited, patent oriented viewpoint, plus you get 2/3 of the BHZ team all in one place. I'm sure any purchaser realizes that, from an "applications" viewpoint, most everything that combines the words quantum and room temperature are highly speculative in 2013. That doesn't, so you know, stop numerous IP hopefuls from submitting many new ideas, especially in what I'd roughly call materials science more than theoretical Physics! Other than quantum computing, the field has numerous other possible applications, ranging from the well known storage and display areas to far reaching implications in our "states of matter" assumptions, both within the cold parameters of topology and brand new material surrogates that bring the theory into more practical temperature ranges. That said, 95% of this text IS research, theory and computation oriented, due simply to the relatively young developmental stage of the field itself. The didactic piece is mainly in the ordering of presentation from simpler to more complex, which doesn't detract from the reference or survey value at all.Library Picks reviews only for the benefit of Amazon shoppers and has nothing to do with Amazon, the authors, manufacturers or publishers of the items we review. We always buy the items we review for the sake of objectivity, and although we search for gems, are not shy about trashing an item if it's a waste of time or money for Amazon shoppers. If the reviewer identifies herself, her job or her field, it is only as a point of reference to help you gauge the background and any biases.

This research area is exciting and growing dramatically. However, except the original research literatures, there are slim sources for people. especially graduate students to access this field. This book is indeed one of the pioneer textbooks and I did expect highly on it. But it disappointed me so much. I do not expect the really high quality such as Weinberg's field theory or Ashcroft's solid physics. However, it is far from the standard quality... There are many typos in the book. I am able to correct many of them because most calculations in the book would be reproduced by myself. But some of them are not easy to determine, especially for some paradoxical and confusing definitions and conclusions. Even for the same calculation, there are two different answers from the author's deduction and citation from the literature source. I DO NOT recommend it. To understand this field or try to enter it later, I have to say, by now, the best way is to read the original academic papers and think hard by yourself.

The book is clearly written and it is well illustrated. The author is well known in this field. All these aspects are both of big importance for a book on such novel branch of fundamental physics as topological insulators. Good choice both for researchers and graduate students!

The selection of content is very good, however, a pedagogical text must treat the material very carefully and it must be proofread many times. The abundance of mistakes and typos make it clear that this was not the case. It makes one mistrust the material rather than developing a crystal-clear understanding. Hopefully these will be fixed in a second edition!!

I can chose this textbook as a course without hesitation.it is clear, well written, and progressively self contained.I recommend it to any MS program in modern solid state physics

I bought as a gift to a physics PhD student. He was happy

A very rushed book. Does not cover subjects in depth.

This book has many typos, but somehow I find it very easy to follow after a few chapters

This book is really worthy its price. I was probably 6th person of our research group to buy it, which makes it a bestseller as far as Physics books could be called that! It is clearly written introduction to the subject at the level accessible to people from ~ (Physics) Master level up. It also contains exercises. There are occasional typos, but hopefully we get an improved second edition soon.