Archive 2019

Host: Ángel Rubio Location: CFEL (Bldg. 99)

Full Quantum Nature of Water on Salt Surface

MPSD Seminar
Despite water being a ubiquitous substance, it is surprising that some basic questions are still debated. Here using a combination of experimental (cryogenic STM) and theoretical (first-principle electronic structures and molecular dynamics) methods, we systematically studied the unusual structure and dynamics of water molecules on NaCl surface. More interestingly, for the first time, we observe the full quantum effect and magic number hydrates in water system. These results shed light on our understanding of water at atomic scale. [more]

Fractional Excitonic Insulator

MPSD Seminar
We argue that a correlated fluid of electrons and holes can exhibit a fractional quantum Hall effect at zero magnetic field analogous to the Laughlin state at filling 1/m. We introduce a variant of the Laughlin wavefunction for electrons and holes and show that for m=1 it describes a Chern insulator that is the exact ground state of a free fermion model with p_x + i p_y excitonic pairing. [more]

Reimar Lüst Lecture -Prof. Charles Kane: Symmetry, topology and electronic phases of matter

Reimar Lüst Lecture
Symmetry and topology are two of the conceptual pillars that underlie our understanding of matter. While both ideas are old, over the past several years a new appreciation of their interplay has led to dramatic progress in our understanding of topological electronic phases. A paradigm that has emerged is that insulating electronic states with an energy gap fall into distinct topological classes. [more]

Engineering with vacuum fields

MPSD Seminar
When a collection of electronic excitations are strongly coupled to a single mode cavity, mixed light-matter excitations called polaritons are created. The situation is especiallyinteresting when the strength of the light-matter coupling Ωr is such that the coupling energy becomes close to the one of the bare matter resonance ω0. For this value of parameters, the system enters the so-called ultra-strong coupling regime, in which a number of very interesting physical effects were predicted. Using metamaterial coupled to two-dimensional electron gases[1], we have demonstrated that a ratio Ωr/ω0 close to[2] or above unity can be reached. [more]

Ab initio few-mode theories for quantum potential scattering problems

MPSD Seminar
The concept of a single mode of the electromagnetic field interacting with matter has been a paradigm in the field of light-matter interactions. For example, the single mode Jaynes-Cummings model and its many generalizations have been indispensable tools in studying the quantum dynamics of various systems. In particular in cavity and circuit QED, where strong light-matter coupling is routinely achieved in experiment, such models have been tremendously successful [1]. [more]

Ab-initio description for propagation of extreme light pulse in solids: recent progresses

MPSD Seminar
When we theoretically investigate interaction of an intense and ultrashort laser pulse with solids, there are two aspects that should be considered: the strong electric field of the light pulse induces nonlinear electron dynamics in solids, and the nonlinear polarization that arises from the electron dynamics affects the propagation of the light pulse. [more]

Coherent states of light and ordered states of matter in cavity QED

MPSD Seminar
Collective phenomena originating from interactions between light and matter have become a major focus of interest spanning different fields of research. [more]

Manipulating quantum materials with cavity fields

MPSD Seminar
We investigate ground state properties of electronic materials strongly coupled to cavity fields. In a two-dimensional electron gas, we explore electron paring mediated by vacuum fluctuations of the transverse electromagnetic field. To date, these interactions have only been discussed in free space, where their impact is restricted to extremely low temperatures. We argue that the sub-wavelength confinement of the light field in nanoplasmonic cavities can enhance the induced interaction to an experimentally accessible regime. In a one-dimensional Hubbard model, the cavity further enhances magnetic couplings at half-filling, and introduces next-nearest-neighbor hopping. References: F. Schlawin, A. Cavalleri, and D. Jaksch, arXiv:1804.07142. M. Kiffner, J. Coulthard, F. Schlawin, A. Ardavan and D. Jaksch, arXiv: 1806.06752. [more]

Nonequilibrium dynamics in strongly correlated systems: spin-charge coupling in a photodoped Mott insulator and possible induced superconductivity

MPSD Seminar
Nonequilibrium pump-probe time-domain spectroscopy opens new perspectives in studying the dynamical properties of the strongly correlated electron systems. In particular, the interplay between different degrees of freedom in strongly correlated materials can be studied by their temporal evolution [1] and also the optical switching to some novel phases is possible [2]. [more]

Strain, lattice distortions and the metal-insulator transition in correlated electron materials

MPSD Seminar
Correlation-driven metal-insulator transitions are typically coupled strongly both to local (octahedral distortion) and long wavelength (strain) lattice distortions. I present a theory of the intertwined electronic and lattice transitions in correlated materials, and show how it accounts for phenomena ranging from the interplay between nematic and magnetic ordering in pnictide superconductors, to the strain and current dependence of the metal insulator transitions in Ca2RuO4 and Ca3Ru2O7 and superlattice effects in the rare earth nickelates. [more]
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