Institute of Physics and Czech Physical Society hosted workshop on topological phenomena

The 5th International Workshop on Topological Structures in Ferroic Materials (TOPO2019) took place in Průhonice and Prague on June 16–20. The conference was organized by the Czech Physical Society and by the Department of Dielectrics of FZU with Jiří Hlinka being the conference chair.
The TOPO Workshop series has been established with an ad hoc meeting held in 2015 at the University of New South Wales in Sydney as a reaction of the ferroelectric community to the rising attention towards topological defects like magnetic vortices, Bloch walls, Skyrmions or Merons and to the rising interest in various topological concepts such as winding numbers or homotopy groups. Cross-disciplinary dimension of the workshop with a significant attendance by specialists outside of the ferroelectric community turned out to be extremely stimulating and resulted in subsequent fruitful meetings in Dresden (2016), Leeds (2017) and Natal (2018).
This year’s TOPO followed in the same fashion bringing together the forefront experts as well as young scientists interested in topological aspects of magnetic, superconducting, ferroelectric as well as liquid crystal matter. More than 70 participants from over 15 countries contributed to the intense program comprising over 50 lectures. The detailed program can be found on the conference webpage. Next year’s meeting will be held at the University of California, Berkeley.