LEAPS-MPS Quantum vortex states and non-collinear magnetic interactions in light-driven quantum materials

非技术总结该奖项支持理论研究，总体目标是了解、预测和控制光驱动量子材料中的新物质体系。我们对光-物质相互作用的理解在太阳能电池、光电晶体管和发光二极管等技术应用中起到了重要作用。然而，最近在探测器访问和操纵时间和长度尺度上的量子态方面的进展，这在十年前还无法实现，现在已经使得探索物质的新的量子相成为可能，这导致了许多问题和挑战。关于光驱动的材料工程学的问题，例如“我们能以多快的速度和多大的幅度利用光来改变材料的性质？”或者“光能在物质中诱导出能彻底改变量子计算的状态吗？”需要协调一致的理论努力才能理解光子修饰电子的动力学和光驱动物质的相。这个项目旨在建立周期性驱动系统中物理现象的理论基础，在周期性驱动系统中，光照射提供了对材料性质的精确控制，并可以诱导出与技术相关的新的非平衡状态。该奖项还将通过直接参与PI的研究来支持本科生的培训，帮助创造用于培训高中教师的教育材料和资源，并使高中生接触材料物理和光-物质相互作用的概念。此外，该项目将帮助与国内和国际研究人员建立合作关系，并增加来自历史上服务不足的社区的学生在物理学领域的留学生和招生人数。技术总结该奖项支持理论研究，以开发技术、方法和模型系统，以了解周期性驱动的系统，并在现有和未来的实验设置中预测和控制新的物质制度。将光-物质、磁和自旋-轨道相互作用相互交织在一起的系统将是这项研究的主要焦点，该研究将在两个主要推力中进行。在第一个推力中，PI将研究光驱动对自旋磁化率的影响，以及具有自旋轨道耦合(SOC)的辐照材料所介导的间接磁交换相互作用。PI将计算光驱二维SOC材料中磁性吸附原子与三维Rashba耦合半导体辐照磁性异质结构之间的感应磁交换相互作用。发展的理论将量化光子修饰的费米子在辐照的SOC系统中介导的磁交换耦合。第二个推力集中在受光涡光束影响的类狄拉克材料中的光与物质的相互作用。该奖项将开发一种理论来描述这些与时间和空间有关的系统，探索由光的轨道角动量产生的新现象，并分析涡旋和伴随的涡旋态的潜在光感应，以建立在实验中观察这些预测的方法。该奖项还将支持高中教师和本科生使用的教育材料和资源的创造，并通过该学院的研究让高中生接触凝聚态物理和光-物质相互作用的概念。该项目将帮助留住和招收来自历史上服务不足的物理社区的学生，并将有助于与国内和国际研究人员建立合作关系。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

NONTECHNICAL SUMMARYThis award supports theoretical research with a general aim to understand, predict, and control novel regimes of matter in light-driven quantum materials. Our understanding of light-matter interaction has been instrumental in technological applications such as solar cells, phototransistors, and light-emitting diodes. However, recent advances in probes accessing and manipulating quantum states in time and length scales that were unattainable just a decade ago have now enabled the exploration of new quantum phases of matter, leading to many questions and challenges. Questions on light-driven engineering of materials, such as "How fast and drastically can we change the properties of materials using light?" or "Can light induce states in matter that can revolutionize quantum computation?" demand a concerted theoretical effort to understand the dynamics of photon-dressed electrons and the phases of light-driven matter. This project aims to establish the theoretical foundations of physical phenomena in periodically driven systems where light irradiation offers precise control of material properties and can induce novel non-equilibrium states of technological relevance.This award will also support the training of undergraduate students through direct involvement in the PI’s research, aid the creation of educational materials and resources that will train high-school teachers, and expose high-school students to the concepts of materials physics and light-matter interactions. This project will, in addition, help the establishment of collaborations with national and international researchers and increase the retention and enrollment of students from historically underserved communities in physics.TECHNICAL SUMMARYThis award supports theoretical research to develop techniques, methodologies, and model systems for understanding periodically-driven systems and predicting and controlling novel regimes of matter in existing and future experimental setups. Systems that intertwine light-matter, magnetic, and spin-orbit interactions will be the primary focus of the research that will be carried out in two major thrusts. In the first thrust, the PI will investigate light-driven effects on spin-susceptibility and the indirect magnetic exchange interaction mediated by irradiated materials with spin-orbit-coupling (SOC). The PI will calculate the induced magnetic exchange interaction between magnetic adatoms in light-driven two-dimensional SOC materials and irradiated magnetic heterostructures enclosing three-dimensional Rashba coupled semiconductors. The theory developed will quantify the magnetic exchange coupling mediated by photon-dressed fermions in irradiated SOC systems. The second thrust is focused on light-matter interactions in Dirac-like materials subjected to light-vortex beams. The PI will develop a theory to describe these time and space-dependent systems, explore new phenomena arising from light’s orbital angular momentum, and analyze the potential photoinduction of vortices and concomitant vortex states to establish ways to observe these predictions in experiments.This award will also support the creation of educational materials and resources to be used by high-school teachers and undergraduates, and expose high-school students to the concepts of condensed matter physics and light-matter interactions through the PI’s research. This project will help increase the retention and enrollment of students from historically underserved communities in physics and will aid the establishment of collaborations with national and international researchers.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.