Quantum topology with strong light-matter coupling (Ref: 4170)

具有强光-物质耦合的量子拓扑（参考号：4170）

• 批准号: 2581422
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2581422
• 关键词: Quantum; topology; strong; light; matter

The mathematics underpinning topological matter is of a large and growing interest, especiallysince the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded in 2016 to the British theoretical physicistsThouless, Haldane and Kosterlitz "for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitionsand topological phases of matter".At its heart, topological physics allows one to explain the behavior of complicated systemsvery simply, usually through some important number: a so-called topological invariant. Afamous example is in the much celebrated quantum Hall effect, where the resistance in thematerial surprisingly plateaus at certain integer values. This intriguing phenomenon can beunderstood elegantly through topological numbers known as Chern numbers.We have so far only talked about conventional materials, which are primarily governed by thebehaviour of their constituent electrons. However, much less is known when it is the particleof light (the photon) which instead plays an important role in the system. In the field ofquantum nanophotonics, we are concerned with nanoscale materials where the light-matterinteraction is decisive. In particular, in the strong light-matter coupling regime, electrons andphotons may hybridize to form a new particle, carrying desirable traits of both of its componentparts.This sets the stage for the proposed project, which aims to make fundamental mathematicaladvances in topological quantum nanophotonics. Namely, inspired by the success of topologicaltheories in describing electronic systems, we will develop theories to describe and exploittopological light at the nanoscale. We will develop topological invariants capable ofdescribing bosonic particles such as light, and create models which explain how topologicallight may be used in the next generation of quantum technology, including quantum circuitry,communications and information.

拓扑物质的数学基础是一个巨大的和日益增长的兴趣，特别是因为诺贝尔物理学奖于2016年被授予英国理论物理学家斯派塞，Halflies和Kosterlitz“拓扑相变和拓扑相位的理论发现”.在其核心，拓扑物理学允许人们非常简单地解释复杂系统的行为，通常通过一些重要的数字：所谓的拓扑不变量一个著名的例子是著名的量子霍尔效应，材料中的电阻在某些整数值处惊人地稳定。这一有趣的现象可以通过被称为陈数的拓扑数来优雅地理解。到目前为止，我们只讨论了常规材料，这些材料主要由其组成电子的行为控制。然而，当光的粒子（光子）在系统中扮演重要角色时，我们所知的就少得多了。在量子纳米光子学领域，我们关注的是光与物质相互作用起决定性作用的纳米材料。特别是，在强光-物质耦合状态下，电子和光子可以杂交形成一个新的粒子，携带其两个组成部分的理想特性。这为拟议中的项目奠定了基础，该项目旨在在拓扑量子纳米光子学方面取得根本性的进展。也就是说，受到拓扑理论在描述电子系统方面的成功的启发，我们将发展理论来描述和利用纳米尺度上的拓扑光。我们将开发能够描述玻色子粒子（如光）的拓扑不变量，并创建解释拓扑光如何用于下一代量子技术（包括量子电路，通信和信息）的模型。