Quantum Matter: Research directions at CESQ
Exotic and unexpected states of matter and new material properties emerge when quantum effects play a dominant role.
Open questions:
- How do macroscopic properties of matter emerge from underlying quantum principles?
- Can this be harnessed to realize new quantum materials?
Research topics:
- Complex systems dynamics
Throughout nature, complex systems are governed by critical events and emergent phenomena that are exceedingly difficult to understand or predict from underlying principles. CESQ researchers recently discovered that a driven gas of ultracold atoms displays all the hallmarks of complex systems dynamics, which in turn opens up a highly-controllable experimental system for testing notions of universality and emergence.
- Long-range interactions
In condensed matter systems interactions between particles are usually short-ranged. CESQ researchers explore the rich new physics and exotic phases of matter that emerge in the presence of long-range interactions. One such example is the elusive anti-Drude metallic phase which exhibits algebraically decaying off-diagonal correlations, a vanishing superfluid density and yet a finite DC conductivity. Such interactions can be engineered e.g. in Rydberg atom experiments or with atoms and molecules coupled to cavities.
- Quantum fluids of light
When light propagates through a nonlinear medium it can exhibit fluid-like behavior similar to other quantum fluids such as ultracold Bose gases and superfluid helium. CESQ researchers generate giant nonlinearities using interacting gases of Rydberg atoms and and use it to explore the frontier of strongly-correlated quantum fluids of light.