The Bright and the Dark Side of Quantum Materials

14.10.2025 13:00 – 15:00

Quantum materials are characterized by mutually entangled degrees of freedom and closely competing energy scales giving rise to new possibilities for tunable collective emergent phenomena. In the first part of my talk I present an example of such physics from a recent joint effort between experimental and theoretical activities: a novel quantum spin Hall insulator with the potential to be operable at room temperature. In the second part of my talk, I take on the challenge of “strong correlations”, where the interactions between electrons require cutting-edge non-perturbative methods. Using these techniques, I will show how symmetry, geometry, and topology are encoded in Mott insulators -- one of the prototypical manifestations of many-bodyness -- and how their seemingly invisible excitations offer a direct, unexpected connection to the world of quantum spin liquids.

Lieu

Bâtiment: Ecole de Physique

Auditoire Stückelberg

entrée libre