Condensed Matter Seminar

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.

Abstract: Graphene at charge neutrality hosts a dense electron-hole excited state through which energy is expected to be transported with remarkable efficiency. In the transport regime characterized by frequent charge carrier collisions, this relativistic Dirac fluid violates the conventional Wiedemann-Franz law, flows as a viscous liquid of electrons, and exhibits an interparticle scattering rate limited by relativistic hydrodynamics to the shortest possible timescale for energy relaxation.

Abstract: In this talk, I will highlight our recent efforts on the development of new class of 2D material-based quantum light emitters and exploit of proximity interactions in realization of chiral quantum light emitters. 2D-Quantum emitters have generated a lot of excitement for their potential in quantum information technologies.

Abstract: Lanthanide atoms are promising ingredients for realizing single molecule magnets which remain magnetically stable at elevated temperatures. They are also being explored for their use in quantum information processing due to the relatively long relaxation times and phase coherence times of their magnetic 4f-electrons and nuclear spins. These useful properties arise in part due to the strong localization of their 4f electrons, which are shielded from the surrounding environment by their much larger valence 6s and 5d electrons.

Abstract: Motivated by the recent realization of an artificial quantum spin ice in an array of superconducting qubits with tunable parameters, we scrutinize a quantum six-vertex model on the square lattice that distinguishes type-I and type-II vertices. We map the zero-temperature phase diagram using numerical and analytical methods. Following a symmetry classification, we identify three crystalline phases alongside a subextensive manifold of isolated configurations.

Abstract: Superconducting devices subject to strong charging energy interactions and Coulomb blockade are one of the key elements for the development of nanoelectronics and constitute common building blocks of quantum computation platforms and topological superconducting setups. The study of their transport properties is nontrivial and some of their nonperturbative aspects are hard to capture with the most ordinary techniques. Here we present a matrix product state approach to simulate the real-time dynamics of these systems.

Abstract: Application relevant materials are usually polycrystalline, and one of the major challenges in structural analysis resides in accurately identifying the grain boundary orientation and size distribution over a wide field of view with enough spatial resolution to capture tens-of-nanometer sized domains.

Abstract: In chemistry and biochemistry, chirality represents the structural asymmetry characterized by non-superimposable mirror images for a material like DNA. In physics, however, chirality commonly refers to the spin-momentum locking of a particle or quasiparticle in the momentum space. While seemingly unrelated characters in different fields, the structural chirality leads to the electronic chirality featured by the orbital-momentum locking encoded in the wavefunction of chiral molecules or solids, i.e.

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