Quantized dislocations for dislocated functional and quantum materials

A dislocation, just like a phonon, is a type of atomic lattice displacement but subject to an extra topological constraint. However, unlike the phonon which has been quantized for decades, the dislocation has long remained classical. This presentation is a pedagogical introduction on our recent theoretical effort of quantized dislocation, aka the "dislon" theory, with a focus on new phenomena and predictive power. By establishing a central equation "dislocation=quantum field", the influence of dislocations to materials functionalities - such as electrical, optical, magnetic and thermal properties - can be computed at a new level of clarity.