Quantum Phenomena in Solids

非技术总结该奖项支持了解和控制材料量子特性的基础研究和教育。从根本上说，地球上的一切都是由量子力学控制的。然而，虽然量子理论对于理解材料的总体性质是必不可少的，例如金属和绝缘体的存在以及磁性现象，但它很少直接在更宏观的世界中表现出来。该项目旨在通过研究在实验室规模的观测中量子效应异常明显的材料来弥合这一差距。这些量子材料提供了在更经典的物质中无法实现的新功能。第一个目标是拓扑和磁性材料。拓扑材料有一种内部的“扭曲”，导致新的导电性能。通过将其与磁性相结合，可以实现对这些性质的控制。第二个重点是涌现的“准粒子”--行为像自然界基本粒子但以本质方式修改的物体--具有不寻常的性质，即它们被限制在比通常的三维更少的空间。第三个问题是如何使用强大的激光来改变材料的特性。来自如此强大的光的力可以重组材料中的电子，赋予它们新的有趣的性质。这项研究涉及理论技术的发展，数值和分析计算，以及与实验研究的密切相互作用。研究生和本科生将以必要的方式参与研究，并将在分析推理，数学方法，计算和科学交流方面进行广泛的培训，这些都是物理学内外STEM领域许多职业的基础。技术总结该奖项支持基础研究和教育，以理解和控制固体中的量子相关性。从长远来看，该计划有两个目标：开发具有当前不可用的有用功能的新材料和结构，并扩展基本科学框架，以了解新制度和新阶段的物质。主要有三个主题：1）巡游磁体中真实的空间和动量空间拓扑的相互作用; 2）亚维动力学; 3）Mott绝缘体的驱动动力学。该研究将使用一套不同的理论技术进行：唯象建模，统计力学，场论，从头计算模拟，多体数值，如蒙特卡罗方法和变分波函数，和对称性分析。一般来说，研究的智力价值是在发展和实现量子物质理论的深刻理论思想在真实的材料。动量和真实的空间拓扑结构的第一个主题是拓扑能带理论领域成熟后的下一步，并打开了一扇大门，丰富的相互作用的现象汇集在一起的拓扑方面的电子结构和挫折磁性。第二个主题既与拓扑相的前沿和三维物质的质的新形式有关，也是一个点，从一维强大的理论技术可以用来解决动力学的困难问题。驱动动力学的最后一个领域是一个新兴的领域，其中围绕Floquet多体问题的新理论思想的快速增长，结合超快技术的实验进展，为固态新物理提供了机会。研究生和本科生将以必要的方式参与研究，并将在分析推理，数学方法，计算，和科学交流，这些构成了STEM领域许多职业的基础，无论是物理学领域还是物理学领域。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并且通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响力进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。

NONTECHNICAL SUMMARYThis award supports fundamental research and education on understanding and controlling quantum properties of materials. Fundamentally, everything on Earth is governed by quantum mechanics. Yet, while quantum theory is essential to understanding the gross properties of materials, for example the existence of both metals and insulators and the phenomena of magnetism, it rarely manifests itself directly in the more macroscopic world. This project aims to bridge this gap by investigating materials in which quantum effects are unusually apparent in laboratory-scale observations. These quantum materials offer new functionalities that could not be achieved in more classical substances.The project has three main thrusts. The first targets materials that are topological and magnetic. Topological materials have a kind of internal "twist" that leads to novel conducting properties. By combining this with magnetism, control over those properties may be achieved. The second thrust focuses on emergent "quasiparticles"--objects that behave like fundamental particles of nature but modified in essential ways--with the unusual property that they are confined to fewer than the usual 3 dimensions. The third problem addressed is how to modify the properties of materials using powerful laser light. The forces from such powerful light can reorganize the electrons in a material, giving them new and interesting properties.This research involves a combination of development of theoretical techniques, numerical and analytical calculations, and close interplay with experimental studies. Graduate and undergraduate students will be involved in an essential way in the research, and will be trained broadly in analytical reasoning, mathematical methods, computation, and scientific communication, which form the basis for many careers in STEM fields, both in and out of physics.TECHNICAL SUMMARYThe award supports fundamental research and education towards understanding and controlling quantum correlations in solids. In the long term, there are two goals to the program: to develop new materials and structures with useful functionality not currently available, and to extend the basic scientific framework to understand matter in new regimes and new phases. There are three main topics: 1) Interplay of real space and momentum space topology in itinerant magnets; 2) Sub-dimensional dynamics; 3) Driven dynamics of Mott insulators. The research will be carried out using a diverse set of theoretical techniques: phenomenological modeling, statistical mechanics, field theory, ab initio simulations, many-body numerics such as Monte Carlo methods and variational wavefunctions, and symmetry analysis.In general, the intellectual merit of the research is in developing and bringing deep theoretical ideas in the theory of quantum matter to fruition in real materials. The first topic on momentum and real space topology is a next step after the maturation of the field of topological band theory, and opens the door to a rich interplay of phenomena bringing together topological aspects of electronic structure and frustrated magnetism. The second subject is both related to the frontier of topological phases and qualitatively new forms of three-dimensional matter, and also is a point where powerful theoretical techniques from one dimension can be brought to bear on difficult problems of dynamics. The final area of driven dynamics is a nascent field, in which a rapid growth of new theoretical ideas surrounding Floquet many-body problems, combined with experimental advances in ultrafast technology, offers opportunities for new physics in the solid state.Graduate and undergraduate students will be involved in an essential way in the research, and will be trained broadly in analytical reasoning, mathematical methods, computation, and scientific communication, which form the basis for many careers in STEM fields, both in and out of physics.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.