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BOX O.1 Strategic Scientific Themes in Condensed-Matter and Materials Physics

• The quantum mechanics of large, interacting systems

• The structure and properties of materials at reduced dimensionality

• Materials with increasing complexity in composition, structure, and function

• Nonequilibrium processes and the relationship between molecular and mesoscopic properties

• Soft condensed matter and the physics of large molecules, including biological structures

• Controlling electrons and photons in solids on the atomic scale

• Understanding magnetism and superconductivity

• Properties of materials under extreme conditions

• Materials synthesis, processing, and nanofabrication

• Moving from empiricism toward predictability in the simulation of materials properties and processes

characterize condensed-matter and materials physics research over the next decade.

Condensed-matter and materials physics lies at the heart of revolutionary advances in broad areas of science and technology. The next decade promises exciting new discoveries and technology impacts as powerful new capabilities in synchrotron and neutron research, atomic-scale visualization, nanofabrication, computing, and many other areas probe the secrets of materials and materials-related phenomena. This is a new era. Vast new arenas, ranging from subtle quantum phenomena, to macromolecular science, to the realm of complex materials, are increasingly accessible to fundamental study. It is a time of exceptional opportunity to perform pioneering research at the technological frontier—a frontier enabled by advances in condensed-matter and materials physics.