The Joerg Schmalian Lab

Joerg Schmalian’s lab studies theoretical condensed matter physics, with a strong focus on superconductivity, quantum criticality, and strongly correlated electron systems. The research explores how electronic interactions, fluctuations, strain, and topology shape exotic phases of matter such as unconventional superconductors, strange metals, altermagnets, and multi-component order states. Many projects investigate what happens near quantum phase transitions, where ordinary quasiparticle descriptions break down and collective behavior becomes dominant. The lab combines analytical theory, model building, and comparison with experiments on real materials, including twisted Dirac systems, kagome metals, UTe, graphene-based systems, and other strongly correlated compounds. Students joining the group can expect to work on fundamental questions in modern quantum materials: why materials superconduct, how symmetry breaking produces new phases, how magnetic fields and strain reveal hidden order, and how simplified solvable models can explain complex measurements. The work is especially well suited to students who enjoy mathematical physics, many-body theory, and connecting deep theory to experimental phenomena.