Topological states: what are they and what are they for? (Scientific session of the Physical Sciences Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 29 November 2017)

A scientific session of the Physical Sciences Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) entitled “Topological states: what are they and what are they for?” was held on 29 November 2017 in the conference hall of the Lebedev Physical Institute, RAS.

The following reports were heard at the session:

(1) Tarasenko S A (Ioffe Institute, St. Petersburg) “Electron properties of topological insulators. The structure of edge states and photogalvanic effects”;

(2) Devyatov E V (Institute of Solid State Physics, RAS, Chernogolovka, Moscow region) “Charge transfer between a superconductor and an edge-carrying state in an inverted band system”;

(3) Volkov V A (Kotel'nikov Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, RAS, Moscow). “Surface states of Dirac and Weyl fermions”.

The paper version of report 1 is presented further on in this issue.