CAREER: Engineering topological phases of matter in solid state systems

该职业奖支持理论研究，探索固态系统中物质拓扑相的新途径。拓扑态是有趣的，因为它们所包含的奇异物理和它们在量子计算等应用中的技术前景。PI将在这个新兴的领域中追求三个方面：1)研究在固态器件中设计非阿贝尔拓扑相的现实新方法，这可能最终成为无退相干量子计算机的支柱。2)设计在通常由传统金属或绝缘体组成的系统中产生拓扑绝缘体相的方法。3)探索具有强自旋-轨道耦合的受挫磁体中的新型量子相。特别是，定性的新的自旋-液相，仅存在于自旋-轨道耦合将被研究，重点是可能的实验实现。教育和推广活动旨在同时促进多样性并改善高中、本科和研究生阶段的科学教育。通过与拥有许多低社会经济地位学生的高中物理教师合作，PI将努力通过纳入具有科学和社会重要性的现代主题来改革课程，例如量子计算、全球变暖和能源独立。特别是，PI将在高中课堂上引入涌现的概念，利用人们熟悉的概念，如鸟群，来传达凝聚态物质中起作用的组织原理。教师可以在未来的课堂上独立运行的低成本、可持续发展的实验室也将被纳入课程中。本科和研究生课程也将同样现代化，本科生将成为PI研究小组的重要组成部分。为加州大学欧文分校的学生和博士后设立了一个新的非正式凝聚态研讨会，以帮助培养具有广泛背景和卓越沟通技巧的新一代研究人员。该职业奖支持探索奇异的物质新相的理论研究，并寻找在实验室中实现这些新相的实际方法。在任何固体内部都存在着大量的电子，这些电子按照量子力学定律的编排，可以以真正壮观的方式组织自己。这种组织构成了大量现象的基础——金属、半导体、磁铁和超导体都是值得注意的例子。在足够低的温度下，超导体具有电流可以无阻力地流过它们的特性。理解固体中电子的集体行为不仅揭示了自然的深刻的基本特性，而且在某些情况下可以带来变革性的技术。在系统中，电子表现出一种被称为“拓扑秩序”的非常微妙的组织类型，这是当前凝聚态物理的主要焦点。具有这种“拓扑相”的材料因其奇异的特性和技术前景而广受青睐。特别是，这些材料可能是构建新一代计算机的关键，这些计算机利用量子力学在某些任务上大大超过当今最快的计算机。到目前为止，自然界中发现的拓扑相很少。PI的研究将寻求通过研究实验上可行的方法来规避这个问题，这些方法可以在所有成分都被充分理解的设备中设计拓扑相位。在绝缘体、超导体和磁体中产生拓扑秩序的新途径都将被研究。这项研究可能会导致令人兴奋的新涌现粒子的发现，并促进“量子计算机”的最终合成。教育和推广活动旨在同时促进多样性并改善高中、本科和研究生阶段的科学教育。通过与拥有许多低社会经济地位学生的高中物理教师合作，PI将努力通过纳入具有科学和社会重要性的现代主题来改革课程，例如量子计算、全球变暖和能源独立。特别是，PI将在高中课堂上引入涌现的概念，利用人们熟悉的概念，如鸟群，来传达凝聚态物质中起作用的组织原理。教师可以在未来的课堂上独立运行的低成本、可持续发展的实验室也将被纳入课程中。本科和研究生课程也将同样现代化，本科生将成为PI研究小组的重要组成部分。为加州大学欧文分校的学生和博士后设立了一个新的非正式凝聚态研讨会，以帮助培养具有广泛背景和卓越沟通技巧的新一代研究人员。

TECHNICAL SUMMARY 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.