A new retrospective Collection, A Century of Imperfection: Point Defect Science in the APS Journals, celebrates the study of point defects in semiconductors and insulators, marking 100 years of research on this topic. Foundational works mark milestone developments over the century, and modern perspectives show the current state of point defect research and its role in emerging technologies.
This Collection brings together influential research from across the APS portfolio. These papers were selected for their remarkable contributions to our present understanding of defects in solids.
Readers are encouraged to use the Beginner’s Guide to Interpreting Defect and Defect Level Diagrams (2025) by Prashun Gorai as a starting point on the journey through imperfection. The Collection in its entirety is published here.
Editorial teams from the following journals contributed to the curation of this Collection: Physical Review Letters, Physical Review X, Physical Review B, Physical Review Materials, Physical Review Applied, PRX Energy, Physical Review Research, and Reviews of Modern Physics.
