Mikael Fogelström

About

I am Director of Nordita since January 2024 and Professor of Theoretical Physics at Chalmers University of Technology, where I am affiliated with the Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2).

My background is in condensed matter theory. I received my PhD from Åbo Akademi in 1995, under the supervision of Juhani Kurkijärvi, on quasiclassical theory of superfluid ³He. After postdoctoral positions with James A. Sauls at Northwestern University and Gerd Schön at the University of Karlsruhe, I joined Chalmers in 2000, where I became full professor in 2015. At Chalmers I have held a number of leadership roles, including Head of the Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience (2016–2023), scientific leader of the Graphene Centre, and Vice-Director of the EU Graphene Flagship (2015–2017).

My research concerns unconventional superconductivity and superfluidity, mesoscopic superconducting structures, and quantum transport in strongly correlated and Dirac materials. A recurring theme is the interplay between superconductivity and a competing or coexisting order — magnetism, surface-induced time-reversal symmetry breaking, or the internal degrees of freedom of a small quantum system coupled to superconducting leads. Methodologically, the work is based on quasiclassical Green’s function techniques (Eilenberger and Keldysh formalisms), and in recent years on their large-scale numerical implementation; the open-source framework SuperConga, developed with colleagues at Chalmers, allows studies of mesoscopic unconventional superconductors in realistic geometries and applied fields. Current activities include phase crystals and spontaneous symmetry breaking at surfaces of d-wave superconductors, topological superfluid ³He, Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states in superconductor–magnet hybrids, and microwave response of proximitised nanowires.

As Director, my aim is for Nordita to remain the natural meeting point for theoretical physics in the Nordic region: a place where visiting scientists, programmes and schools bring the community together across fields and institutions, and where early-career researchers are given the freedom to develop their own lines of research.