Self-introduction: Ching-Kai Chiu

Hello, I will officially join iTHEMS on August 1st as a senior research scientist. My name is Ching-Kai Chiu from Taiwan, and I am a condensed matter physicist. Unfortunately, I cannot enter Japan now due to the travel restriction. Hopefully, I can see everyone in person after COVID-19. Please feel to contact me anytime.

My research interests are topological states of matter, superconductivity, and quantum computing. Specifically, my works are related to topological insulators, semimetals, superconductors, and non-Hermitian systems, as well as the designing of universal quantum computers. I have enjoyed using mathematics to explore condensed matter physics and collaborating with theorists and experimentalists.

However, I don’t want to limit myself in condensed matter physics. I have broad interests in science. When I was in graduate school (the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), I learned general relativity (Sean Caroll’s and Wheeler’s books) and field theory. Recently, I am also interested in (quantum) cryptography and cryptocurrency. It is exciting for me to work in iTHEMS to interact with scientists from different fields.

About my personal life, I lived in many countries, such as USA, Canada, Taiwan, Germany, China. I have enjoyed nature and visited around 20 national parks in the United States. You name it. Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Mount Rainier. My wife and I like to travel. We have been at least 25 countries before COVID-19. My favorite habits are rock climbing and playing board games, such as Terraforming Mars and Power Grids.