CAREER: Engineering topological phases of matter in solid state systems

技术总结该职业奖项支持理论研究，探索固态系统中物质拓扑相的新途径。拓扑态之所以有趣，是因为它们所蕴含的奇异物理学，以及它们在量子计算和其他应用方面的技术前景。PI将在这一新兴领域开展三个领域的研究：1）研究在固态设备中设计非阿贝尔拓扑相位的现实新方法，这些方法最终可能成为无消相干量子计算机的支柱。2)设计在通常是传统金属或绝缘体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阻挫磁体中的新量子相。特别是，定性新的自旋-液相，存在完全是由于自旋-轨道耦合将进行研究，重点是可能的实验实现。教育和推广活动的目的是同时促进多样性和提高高中，本科和研究生水平的科学教育。通过与高中的物理教师合作，许多学生的社会经济地位较低，PI将努力通过纳入具有科学和社会重要性的现代主题来修改课程，例如量子计算，全球变暖和能源独立。特别是，PI将把涌现的概念引入高中课堂，使用熟悉的想法，如鸟群来传达凝聚态物质中工作的组织原则。教师可以在未来的课程中独立运行的低成本，可持续的实验室也将实施到课程中。本科生和研究生课程也将同样现代化，本科生将成为PI研究小组的一个组成部分。还将为加州大学欧文分校的学生和博士后举办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。该职业奖支持理论研究，探索物质的异国情调的新阶段，并寻找在实验室中实现它们的实用方法。在任何固体内部都存在着数量庞大的电子，这些电子按照量子力学的规律编排，可以以真正壮观的方式组织起来。这种组织构成了大量现象的基础--金属、半导体、磁体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界深刻的基本性质，而且在某些情况下可能导致变革性技术。其中电子表现出一种非常微妙的组织类型，称为“拓扑秩序”的系统是凝聚态物理学目前的主要焦点。表现出这种“拓扑相”的材料因其奇异的特性和技术前景而受到广泛的垂涎。特别是，这些材料可能是建造新一代计算机的关键，这些计算机采用量子力学，在某些任务上大大超过当今最快的计算机。到目前为止，很少有拓扑相位已被确定在自然界中。PI的研究将通过调查实验可行的方法来规避这个问题，这些方法可以在其组成成分都很好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。教育和推广活动的目的是同时促进多样性和提高高中，本科和研究生水平的科学教育。通过与高中的物理教师合作，许多学生的社会经济地位较低，PI将努力通过纳入具有科学和社会重要性的现代主题来修改课程，例如量子计算，全球变暖和能源独立。特别是，PI将把涌现的概念引入高中课堂，使用熟悉的想法，如鸟群来传达凝聚态物质中工作的组织原则。教师可以在未来的课程中独立运行的低成本，可持续的实验室也将实施到课程中。本科生和研究生课程也将同样现代化，本科生将成为PI研究小组的一个组成部分。还将为加州大学欧文分校的学生和博士后举办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.