Academic CV and Research Achievements

Silke Bühler-Paschen (scientific name: S. Paschen)

++43/58801 13716; paschen@ifp.tuwien.ac.at
Institute of Solid State Physics (IFP), TU Wien, Wiedner Hauptstr. 8-10, 1040 Vienna, AT
Web page: https://www.ifp.tuwien.ac.at/paschen/, https://www.tuwien.at/en/phy/ifp/quantum-materials
OrcidID:0000-0002-3796-0713, Web of Science ResearcherID: C-3841-2014

  • 05/2004-present       Full Professor, TU Wien, AT
  • 02/2017-present       Academic Visitor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, USA
  • 08/2016-01/2017     Visiting Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, USA
  • 02/2003-04/2005     Assoc. Prof., Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (MPI CPfS), DE
  • 12/2001-03/2002     Visiting Professor, Institute of Solid State Physics, Nagoya University, JP
  • 01/1999-01/2003     Scientific Collaborator, MPI CPfS
  • 08/1995-12/1998     Scientific Collaborator, Laboratory for Solid State Physics, ETH Zurich, CH
  • Mai 1995                   PhD, EPFL Lausanne, CH
  • 05/1992-05/1995     Research Assistant, Institut de G´enie Atomique, EPFL Lausanne, CH
  • March 1992              Master (Dipl.-Ing.), Faculty of Physics, Graz University of Technology, AT
  • 10/1990-02/1992     Scientific Collaborator, Paul Scherrer Institute, CH

  • 08/1998-02/2005     Three maternity leaves (birthdays: 13.9.1998, 30.6.2001, 24.12.2004) and parttime work during the indicated period to take care of the children

Strongly correlated electron systems, quantum criticality, strange metals, Kondo physics, correlation- driven topological semimetals, unconventional superconductivity; bulk materials synthesis and characterization, molecular beam epitaxy, lithography and device fabrication, electrical and thermal transport, thermodynamics, microwave and noise experiments, low- and ultralow-temperature techniques, large facility experiments (neutrons, X-rays, muons, ARPES, high magnetic fields); close collaboration with theorists.

235 peer-reviewed publications (+16 on arXiv, +2 submitted) (full list), ), out of which 83 are last/senior- author and 39 are first/only-author publications. A number of these publications had substantial press coverage, including a recent Feature Story in Science by Z. Savitsky that prominently featured our group’s recent work on strange metals.

10 most important publications

[1] F. Mazza, S. Biswas, X. Yan, A. Prokofiev, P. Steffens, Q. Si, F. F. Assaad, and S. Paschen, Quantum Fisher information in a strange metal, Nat. Phys. 22, 1064-1070 (2026)
DOI:10.1038/s41567-026- 03298-0

[2] D. M. Kirschbaum, L. Chen, D. A. Zocco, H. Hu, F. Mazza, M. Karlich, M. Lužnik, D. H. Nguyen, J. Larrea Jiménez, A. M. Strydom, D. Adroja, X. Yan, A. Prokofiev, Q. Si and S. Paschen, Emergent topological semimetal from quantum criticality, Nat. Phys. 22, 218–224 (2026)
DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03135-w

[3] B. Gao, F. Desrochers, D. W. Tam, D. M. Kirschbaum, P. Steffens, A. Hiess, D. H. Nguyen, Y. Su, S.-W. Cheong, S. Paschen, Y. B. Kim, and P. Dai, Neutron scattering and thermodynamic evidence for emergent photons and fractionalization in a pyrochlore spin ice, Nat. Phys. 21, 1203–1210 (2025)
DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-02922-9

[4] J. G. Checkelsky, B. A. Bernevig, P. Coleman, Q. Si, and S. Paschen, Flat bands, strange metals and the Kondo effect, Nat. Rev. Mater. 9, 509-526 (2024)
DOI: 10.1038/s41578-023-00644-z

[5] L. Chen, D. T. Lowder, E. Bakali, A. M. Andrews, W. Schrenk, M. Waas, R. Svagera, G. Eguchi, L. Prochaska, Y. Wang, C. Setty, S. Sur, Q. Si, S. Paschen, and D. Natelson, Shot noise in a strange metal, Science 382, 907 (2023)
DOI: 10.1126/science.abq6100

[6] D. H. Nguyen, A. Sidorenko, M. Taupin, G. Knebel, G. Lapertot, E. Schuberth, and S. Paschen, Superconductivity in an extreme strange metal, Nat. Commun. 12, 4341 (2021)
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24670-z

[7] S. Dzsaber, X. Yan, G. Eguchi, A. Prokofiev, T. Shiroka, P. Blaha, O. Rubel, S. E. Grefe, H.-H. Lai, Q. Si, and S. Paschen, Giant spontaneous Hall effect in a nonmagnetic Weyl-Kondo semimetal, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 118, e2013386118 (2021)
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2013386118

[8] S. Paschen and Q. Si, Quantum phases driven by strong correlations, Nat. Rev. Phys. 3, 9–26 (2021)
DOI: 10.1038/s42254-020-00262-6

[9] L. Prochaska, X. Li, D. C. MacFarland, A. M. Andrews, M. Bonta, E. F. Bianco, S. Yazdi, W. Schrenk, H. Detz, A. Limbeck, Q. Si, E. Ringe, G. Strasser, J. Kono, and S. Paschen, Singular charge fluctuations at a magnetic quantum critical point, Science 367, 285 (2020)
DOI: 10.1126/science.aag1595

[10] S. Paschen, T. Lühmann, S. Wirth, P. Gegenwart, O. Trovarelli, C. Geibel, F. Steglich, P. Coleman, and Q. Si, Hall-effect evolution across a heavy-fermion quantum critical point, Nature 432, 881 (2004)
DOI: 10.1038/nature03129

  • Discovery of enhanced multipartite entanglement in a strange metal, as quantified by the quantum Fisher information [publications 1 of list].
  • First demonstration of metallic topology that is not anticipated by any noninteracting picture [2].
  • Firm identification of a quantum spin ice compound via thermodynamic evidence [3].
  • Insight that strange metallicity, an overarching phenomenon across quantum materials platforms, may be due to Kondo destruction even beyond heavy fermion systems [4].
  • First MBE growth of epitaxial films of YbRh2Si2 and demonstration by (i) time-domain THz transmission spectroscopy that critical charge fluctuations are an integral part of the quantum criticality [9], and (ii) suppressed shot noise that quasiparticles are absent [5], advancing the understanding of strange metal physics and quantum criticality beyond the order parameter paradigm.
  • First electrical resistivity measurements of a quantum critical heavy fermion system (and of any metal at all) to below 1mK, and discovery of unconventional superconductivity condensing out of an extreme strange metal state [6], making this clean and comparably “simple” material a proto- type to understand also other strange metals, e.g. high-temperature cuprate superconductors.
  • Identification of the first material of the newly discovered class of correlation-driven topological semimetals, thereby validating the concept [7].
  • Insight that quantum criticality is an overarching mechanism to stabilize strange metallicity, as well as emergent phases condensing out of it [8].
  • Demonstration of Kondo destruction in quantum critical heavy fermion systems via a jump in the Hall effect [10], a key contribution to establishing a new type of quantum criticality.

1. Awards

Corresponding Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (2026); Fellow, American Physical Society (2015); Assoc. Prof., Excellence Program for the Advancement of Outstanding Female Scientists of the Max Planck Society (2003)

2. Research projects

PI of two ERC Advanced Grants: CorMeTop (2022-27) and QuantumPuzzle (2009-15); Coordinator and PI of FWF-funded SFB Correlated Quantum Materials & Solid State Quantum Systems Q-M&S (2023-26); PI of Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) project Correlation-driven topological semimetals (CorTopS) (2024-27); PI in: Horizon-EIC Pathfinder project TICON (2026-2030),FOR5249 QUAST Quantitative Spatio-Temporal Model-Building for Correlated Electronic Matter (2022-25 & 2026-29), two Core Projects (1 lead, one co-PI) in Austrian Cluster of Excellence Quantum Science Austria (2023-26 & 2026-2028) and associated FFG infrastructure program Quantum Austria (2022-25), EC European Microkelvin Platform (2019- 23), FWF Graduate School Building Solids for Function (2012-20), DFG-Priority Programme 1386 Nanostructured Thermoelectric Materials (2012-16); Speaker and PI of TU Wien Graduate School “Functional Matter” (2008-12); 6 stand-alone FWF projects, 1 FFG, and 1 US Army Research Office project; co-PI of various Austrian Infrastructure Grants.

3. Institutional responsibilities

Member of the Senate of TU Wien (since 2020); Member of the Physics Faculty Board of TU Wien (since 2007); Member of the Physics Committee of Studies of TU Wien (since 2007); Chair of 2 Appointment Committees (Full Prof) at TU Wien, member of 9 others (TU Wien, Uni Wien, Uni Innsbruck, Uni Salzburg, EPFL, Augsburg); Head of IFP, TU Wien (2007-15).

4. Reviewing activities

Editor, Reviews of Modern Physics (2026-); Panel Member European Research Council (PE3, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019), Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (since 2017); Reviewer for Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Excellence Initiative, Priority Program, Individual Grants), European Research Council (remote reviewer Advanced and Synergy Grants), Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft, US Department of Energy (Energy Frontier Research Centers); Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research; Academy of Finland, Canadian NSERC, US Army Research Office; Member of an Honors Selection Committee of the APS (2023); Reviewer for Journals: Nature, Science, Nat. Mater./Phys./Commun., PNAS, Phys. Rev. Lett.; Curator to Physik in unserer Zeit (2013-18); Editor to the European Physical Journal B (2008-13); Corresponding member of Journal Club for Codensed Matter Physics (2004- 09).

5. Supervision/Mentoring

Current group: 2 Senior Scientist, 3 Univ. Ass., 4 PostDocs, 7 PhD Students; Theses TU Wien: 1 Habilitation, 13 PostDocs, 10  PhD Students, 20 Master Students, 9 Bachelor Students; ASTRA award to F. Yang (2026), IUPAP young investigator award to M. Ikeda (2022);  Alumni TU Wien: N. Barisic, J. Custers, J. Larrea, V. Martelli, V.-H. Tran now on faculty; many others in national and international industry positions. 6. Teaching: Materialwissenschaften

6. Teaching

Materialwissenschaften (since 2023), Solid State Physics I (since 2012), Solid State Physics II (since 2005), Functional Materials (since 2008), Strongly Correlated Electron Systems (since 2006), Materials Synthesis (2009), Gender Aspects in Natural Science (2006-13), Lecture Series in Graduate School Solids for Function (20012-18); Lecturer at: S˜ao Paulo School of Advanced Science on Quantum Materials (2024); Frontiers of Condensed Matter, Ecole de Physique des Houches (2024); School on Exotic Superconductivity, Carg`ese (2022); EPM Cryo-Course Kosice (2019), Chichilianne (2021), Odenwald (2022); ToCoTronics Fall School, Würzburg (2018); Euroschool ECmetAC Krakow (2018), Liverpool (online, 2021); CoQuS Summer School, Vienna (2011).

7. Memberships in boards and scientific societies

Board Member of the Austrian Physical Society/ÖPG (since 2025); External Advisory Board Member of the Rutgers Center for Materials Theory (since 2024); Member of IUPAP Commission C5 (since 2022), as Vice-Chair since 2025; Founding and Board Member of the Association of ERC Grantees (since 2020); Member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart (since 2023); and the Walther-Meißner-Institut, Garching (since 2015); Board Member of the European Physical Society (Condensed Matter Board & Sect. Low Temperature, since 2015); Int. Thermoelectric Society (2015-19); Chair of “Arbeitskreis Chancengleichheit Physik”, Austrian Physical Society (2006-10).

8. Organization of scientific meetings (selected)

  • 01.07.-03.07.2026, International Conference on Correlated Quantum Materials and Solid State Quantum Systems, Vienna, organizer
  • 30.11.-05.12.2025, Symposium “Clathrates and Clathrate-like Materials: Fundamental Science and Technological Advances”, MRS Fall Meeting, Boston, USA, 1 of 4 organizers.
  • 15.09.-19.09.2025, Summer School on Correlated Quantum Materials & Solid State Quantum Systems (Q-M& S), Würzburg, Germany, co-organizer as coordinator of the SFB Q-M& S.
  • 09.09.2025, Symposium Correlated Quantum Matter – From Cold Atoms to the Solid State, 2nd DPG Fall Meeting, Göttingen, 1 of 3 organizers.
  • 20.08.2025, ERC Funding in Quantum Science, OPG-SPS Meeting Vienna 2025, co-organized¨ with OPG-SPG organizers.
  • 31.03.-04.04.2025, MPI PKS workshop “Flat Bands, Strong Correlations, and Heavy Fermions”, 1 of 3 organizers.
  • 01.09.-06.09.2024, CMD31-General Conference of the Condensed Matter Division of the European Physical Society, Braga, Portugal, 1 of 5 chairpersons.
  • 03.04.-06.04.2023, KITP conference at Summer Program “A Quantum Universe in a Crystal: Symmetry and Topology Across the Correlation Spectrum” (20.2.-9.6.2023), 1 of 4 organizers.
  • 11.04.-13.04.2022, Focus workshop “Topological Materials: From Weak to Strong Correlations”, MPI PKS, Dresden., 1 of 3 organizers.
  • 24.01.-28.01.2022, Aspen Center for Physics Winter Conference “New Directions in Strong Correlation Physics: From Strange Metals to Topological Superconductivity”, 1 of 4 organizers.
  • 04.08.-06.08.2021, Online stay-in-touch meeting of Focus Workshop “Topological Materials: From Weak to Strong Correlations” (April 11-13, MPI PKS Dresden), 1 of 3 organizers.
  • 12.07.-30.07.2021, Summer Program at ASPEN Center for Physics, “Electronic topology across the correlation spectrum”, 1 of 4 organizers.
  • 15.07.-22.07.2018, ICM 2018 - The International Conference on Magnetism, San Francisco, USA, co-organizer of SCES part.
  • 23.01.-24.01.2017, Workshop on Strongly Correlated Materials: Topology and Quantum Phase Transitions, Rice University, 1 of 2 organizers.
  • 08.12.-09.12.2016, Mini-Symposium – Progress and New Directions on 4f Electron Materials, Rice University, 1 of 3 organizers.
  • 16.08.-13.09.2015, Summer Program at ASPEN Center for Physics, “Beyond Quasiparticles: New Paradigms for Quantum Fluids”, 1 of 2 organizers.
  • 18.08.-23.08.2014, QCM14 - Quantum Critical Matter - From Atoms to Bulk, Obergurgl, AT, main organizer, 2 co-organizers.

9. Invited presentations at international conferences/schools (out of 174)

I have given invited talks at the major conferences in my fields of research (International Conferences on: Strongly Correlated Electron Systems, Magnetism, Low Temperature Physics, Quantum Fluids and Solids, Thermoelectrics), various Society Meetings (APS March Meeting, DPG Spring Meeting, Condensed Matter Division of the EPS, MRS Meetings); plenary talks at Austrian/German/Swiss and South African Physical Society Meetings), Gordon Research Conferences, KITP Conferences, and numerous more specialized international conferences and workshops, e.g.:

  • 19.05.-21.05.2026, Workshop Quantum Materials and Quantum Information Science, SPICE, Ingelheim, Germany, “On strange metals and semimetals”.
  • 15.03.2026, APS Global Physics Summit, Tutorial Correlation and Topology in Flat Band Quantum Materials, Denver, USA, “Emergent topological semimetals”.
  • 22.02.-28.02.2026, Quantum Optics Obergurgl 2026, Universitätszentrum Obergurgl, “Entanglement in quantum materials”.
  • 08.02.-13.02.2026, Gordon Research Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena: Exploring Fluctuations and Entanglement in the Control of Quantum Materials, Pomona, USA, “Heavy fermion compounds as platform for strong correlations and topology”.
  • 30.11.-5.12.2025, Symposium “Topological Materials–Growth, Theoretical Models, Exotic Properties and Applications”, MRS Fall Meeting, Boston, USA, “Correlation-driven topology – The case of heavy fermion compounds”.
  • 17.11-20.11.2025, International Conference on the Fundamentals of Quantum Matter, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences at the University of CAS, & Science/AAAS, Beijing, China, “On strange metals and semimetals”.
  • 12.10.-17.10.2025, International Conference on Strongly Correlated Quantum Materials (ICSCQM), Hvar, Kroatia, “Weyl-Kondo semimetals”.
  • 02.10.-03.10,2025, Workshop on electronic and thermal transport in frontier materials, École Polytechnique, Paris, France, “Weyl-Kondo semimetals”.
  • 08.09-12.09.2025, DPG Fall Meeting Quantum Physics, Göttingen, Germany, “Entanglement in quantum materials”, plenary talk.
  • 11.05.-16.05.2025, Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Topological and Correlated Matter, Barcelona, Spain, “Topological semimetals in heavy fermion compounds”.
  • 01.05.-02.05.2025, Workshop on Entanglement in Quantum Materials, Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, “Witnessing entanglement in a heavy fermion strange metal”.
  • 16.04-21.04.2025, APS Global Physics Summit, Anaheim, USA, “New tools to decipher strange metals” (Physical Review Invited Session: Forefront research across disciplines
  • 23.06.-28.06.2024, Correlated Electron Systems GRC on Unconventional Phenomena in Quantum Matter, Mount Holyoke College, USA, “Strange metal behavior - Heavy fermion compounds and beyond”.
  • 22.04.-26.04.2024, MRS Spring Meeting, Seattle, USA, “Topological semimetals in heavy fermion compounds”.
  • 02.07.-07.07.2023, International Conference on Strongly Correlated Electron Systems (SCES23); Incheon, Korea, “The strange metal YbRh2Si2”.
  • 05.03-10.03.2023, APS March Meeting, Session M24: Emergent Phenomena in Strongly Correlated Quantum Materials, Las Vegas, USA, “Weyl-Kondo semimetals – Phenomena and stabilization mechanisms”.
  • 21.08.-26.08.2022, 29th General Conferences of the Condensed Matter Division of the EPS (CMD29), Manchester, UK, “Electronic topology driven by strong correlations”, semi-plenary talk.
  • 18.08.-24.08.2022, 29th International Conference on Low Temperature Physics, LT29, Sapporo, Japan; “Correlation-driven metallic topology”, half-plenary talk.
  • 27.09.-02.10.2021, SCES 2020/21 (online), “Broken up, condensed, and knotted: The gym of heavy fermions”, plenary talk.
  • 07.09.-01.10.2021, Annual Meeting of the Condensed Matter Physics Section of the German Physical Society (online), “Correlated electrons with knots”, plenary talk

In addition, I have given colloquia/invited seminars (71), including at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Columbia, Rice, Rutgers, UCSB, IOP Beijing, Cambridge, Oxford, Leiden, Bristol, Heidelberg, MPI Stuttgart as well as invited outreach talks (9), including at the KITP Teachers’ Conference 2023, Santa Barbara, and contributed conference presentations (53).

10. Major collaborations (only international)

D. Adroja (neutron scattering, ISIS); F.F. Assaad (Quantum Monte Carlo, Uni. Würzburg, DE), C. Broholm (neutron scattering, Johns Hopkins, USA), J. G. Checkelsky (flat band systems, MIT, USA); P. Dai (quantum spin ice, Rice Univ., USA), Y. Grin (thermoelectrics, MPI CPfS, DE), D. Inosov (neutron scattering, Univ. Dresden, DE), S. Kirchner (theory of strong correlations, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan), J. Kono (THz spectroscopy, Rice Univ., USA), D. Natelson (mesoscopic transport, Rice Univ., USA), S. Pailhès (neutron scattering, CNRS & Univ. Lyon I, FR), A. Severing (X-ray scattering/photoemission, Univ. Cologne, DE), T. Shiroka (µSR, PSI & ETHZ, CH), Q. Si (theory of strong correlations, Rice Univ., USA), P. Steffens (neutron scattering, ILL, FR), F. Steglich (quantum criticality, MPI CPfS, DE), A. M. Strydom (heavy fermion physics, Univ. Johannesburg, ZA), M. Vergniory (DFT & quantum chemistry, Sherbrook Univ., CA), S. Wirth (quantum criticality, MPI CPfS, DE).