Condensed Matter Seminar

Abstract: Quantum twisting microscope (QTM) is a new and powerful platform to study in-situ twistronics and momentum-resolved band structure imaging of 2D materials. Further combining it with light allows probing the optical and optoelectronic properties of two layers of 2D materials stacked on top of each other with a tunable twist angle. In this talk, I will present the development of an optical quantum twisting microscope which is equipped with both vis-NIR lasers and home built Fourier transform infrared spectrometer.

Abstract: Quantum materials give us unprecedented access to a rich tapestry of complex properties that when harnessed allow us to overcome the intrinsic limitations of classical sensing, computing, and storage technologies. The underexplored intersection of strong spin-orbit coupling, electron-electron correlation effects, and local f-electron states provides fertile ground for discovery and the development of next-generation multifunctional quantum technologies. However, due to the vastness of the geometrical and compositional phase space we encounter an exponential wall.

Abstract: Unconventional phases in solids are predicted to arise when a Fermi surface is strongly coupled to bosonic excitations, such as phonons, spin- and density-wave fluctuations, and collective modes emerging in the vicinity of phase transitions. However, isolating relevant interaction channels is challenging, as electrons are typically coupled simultaneously to multiple bosonic modes.

[EQI] Eddleman Quantum Institute Seminar Series

Abstract: In this talk, I discuss why computer designers are looking to develop novel ways of computing for a variety of common but specialized tasks, why spintronic devices, particularly magnetic tunnel junctions, might make valuable contributions to this process, and why success requires considering all levels of the computational stack from devices through the architecture. I illustrate these points in terms of three recent computational platforms my colleagues and I have worked on using magnetic tunnel junctions.

[EQI] Eddleman Quantum Institute Seminar Series

Abstract: Semiconductor materials play essential roles in a host of technologies including computation, photovoltaics, light emission, and spin transport. This talk focuses on first-principles simulations of the structure, stability and electronic properties of novel semiconductor materials, especially hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites and multinary chalcogenide materials.

Abstract: Quantum mechanics exhibits a stark dichotomy between unitary time-evolution and measurement. These aspects are further contrasted by the fact that traditional many-body quantum theory is developed solely based on unitary aspects. In this talk, I will explore a fruitful synergy that emerges from the interplay between many-body quantum physics and the non-equilibrium quantum dynamics that arises from measurements.

Abstract: Atomically thin van der Waals crystals like graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides allow for the creation of arbitrary, atomically precise heterostructures simply by stacking disparate monolayers without the constraints of covalent bonding or epitaxy. While these are commonly described as nanoscale LEGO blocks, many intriguing phenomena have been discovered in the recent past that go beyond this simple analogy.

Abstract: The functionality of nematic liquid crystals lies in that their optical properties are linked to a controllable orientation of underlying nematic directors. In analogy, electronic nematicity refers to a state whose electronic properties spontaneously break rotation symmetries of the host crystalline lattice.