Author’s premises

This book has been a real challenge that I wanted to tackle.It took me 2½ years to achieve it.I was very curious to explore the exotic properties that are emerging in 2D materials by using technology such as straintronics.Everything started some years ago.I have been working in a large company as senior researcher for many years, maybe too many.I was going too far from all the things that motivated me to spend my life trying to do science.I wanted to come back to physics and to explore new "things"."Things" and phenomena that could make me dream yet.I wanted to find a thread that it will be able to give me new motivation or at less to find the spirit that pushed me to make research 20 years ago.I have written a previous book on graphene properties but this one is completely different for me.I have been working on graphene for more than 10 years now.Graphene and its applications are in my so-called comfort zone.I needed something more complex that allows me to go beyond my knowledge challenging my conception of physics.I was pushed to focus my attention on exotic properties of materials, firstly by working on topology matter.Indeed, I think we are on the verge of a real revolution that will change completely our way of conceiving physics and so devices.This revolution will have a terrific impact in our everyday life.Two-dimensional topological insulators are extremely interesting objects of research that are disclosing their incredible potential in terms of physics behind and its applications.This revolution started some years ago with the discovery of quantum Hall effect that opens new research horizons.However, the potential impact of materials featuring the quantum spin Hall effect can change radically the present technology and push finally us in the "beyond CMOS realm".I have always thought that physicists have to dream and make people dream.We do not have to continue to do the same things simply changing the materials as a function of the different science fashions.We have to think out of the box conceiving a new way of processing information exploiting devices that cannot be labelled precisely using the present technology.Indeed, more than 100 years ago, the "transistor" was not a concept.Now our technology depends completely on this component and each system is thought as a function of it.Processing charge is a sort of postulate of the modern technology.For this reason, when we discover new materials, as in the case of 2D some years ago, the first thing that scientists did was to fabricate transistors with them.In my opinion, 2D material transistors are really a misguiding direction.Two-dimensional materials will help us enter finally in a new domain of science and new concepts of devices acting differently and not labelled in the same way.The definition of sensors, transistors or memories will not have any meaning in the future considering that new devices and systems will be able to process and transport information at the same time.In this book, I have identified some topics.Each chapter is motivated by my will, and my curiosity, to understand the physics of each exotic phenomenon.Each chapter by itself is a challenge.Because of that, I tried to write it using simple terms