This CAREER award supports theoretical research that explores new routes to topological phases of matter in solid-state systems. Topological states are interesting due to the exotic physics they harbor and their technological promise for quantum computation, among other applications. The PI will pursue three areas in this burgeoning field:
1) Investigating realistic new methods for engineering non-Abelian topological phases in solid-state devices, which may eventually serve as the backbone of a decoherence-free quantum computer.
2) Devising approaches for generating topological insulator phases in systems that would ordinarily be conventional metals or insulators.
3) Exploring novel quantum phases in frustrated magnets exhibiting strong spin-orbit coupling. In particular, qualitatively new spin-liquid phases that exist solely due to spin-orbit coupling will be studied, with emphasis on possible experimental realizations.
Education and outreach activities are aimed to simultaneously promote diversity and improve science education at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels. By partnering with physics teachers from high schools with many students of low-socioeconomic status, the PI will work to revamp the curriculum by incorporating modern topics of scientific and societal importance, examples include quantum computing, global warming, and energy independence. In particular, the PI will introduce the concept of emergence into high-school classrooms, using familiar ideas such as bird flocking to convey the organizational principles at work in condensed matter. Low-cost, sustainable labs that teachers can independently run in future classes will also be implemented into the courses. Undergraduate and graduate curricula will be similarly modernized, and undergraduates will form an integral component of the PI's research group. A new informal condensed matter seminar for UC Irvine's students and post-docs will also be instituted to help train a new generation of researchers with broad backgrounds and exceptional communication skills.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY
This CAREER award supports theoretical research that explores exotic new phases of matter and searches for practical ways of realizing them in the laboratory. Inside of any solid lies a colossal number of electrons which, choreographed by the laws of quantum mechanics, can organize themselves in truly spectacular ways. This organization underlies a wealth of phenomena - metals, semiconductors, magnets, and superconductors being noteworthy examples. At sufficiently low temperature, superconductors have the property that electricity can flow them without resistance. Understanding the collective behavior of electrons in a solid not only reveals profound fundamental properties of nature, but in some cases can lead to transformative technologies.
Systems in which electrons exhibit a very subtle type of organization known as "topological order" are a current major focus of condensed matter physics. Materials exhibiting such "topological phases" are widely coveted for their exotic properties and technological promise. In particular, these materials may hold the key to building a new generation of computers that employ quantum mechanics to drastically outperform today's fastest computers for certain tasks. So far few topological phases have been identified in nature. The PI's research will seek to circumvent this problem by investigating experimentally feasible ways of engineering topological phases in devices whose constituents are all well-understood. New routes to generating topological order in insulators, superconductors, and magnets will all be studied. This research may lead to the exciting discovery of new emergent particles and facilitate the eventual synthesis of a "quantum computer".
Education and outreach activities are aimed to simultaneously promote diversity and improve science education at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels. By partnering with physics teachers from high schools with many students of low-socioeconomic status, the PI will work to revamp the curriculum by incorporating modern topics of scientific and societal importance, examples include quantum computing, global warming, and energy independence. In particular, the PI will introduce the concept of emergence into high-school classrooms, using familiar ideas such as bird flocking to convey the organizational principles at work in condensed matter. Low-cost, sustainable labs that teachers can independently run in future classes will also be implemented into the courses. Undergraduate and graduate curricula will be similarly modernized, and undergraduates will form an integral component of the PI's research group. A new informal condensed matter seminar for UC Irvine's students and post-docs will also be instituted to help train a new generation of researchers with broad backgrounds and exceptional communication skills.
