CAREER: Quantum Phases and Non-Equilibrium Dynamics of Strongly Correlated Photons

该职业奖支持一个项目，该项目旨在描述、模拟和预测相互作用的光粒子的物理系统中的新特性和新出现的现象。这些称为光子的粒子非常丰富：可见光、无线电波和X射线都是由光子组成的。在自由空间中，单个光子基本上不受额外光子存在的影响。这种相互作用的缺乏使得光子成为当今已知的最简单的基本粒子。然而，在将光子限制在谐振器并迫使它们与额外组件(例如，由超导材料制成的原子或电路)相互作用的人造系统中，可以诱导光子之间的强烈相互作用。光子之间的诱导相互作用的后果令人惊讶：光可以表现出通常与大质量粒子有关的行为。通过这个奖项，描述这种新型量子行为的理论模型将在即将到来的实验数据的背景下得到开发和分析。该奖项资助的研究的主要目标是解决为定量理解和预测强相互作用光子状态及其性质而开发所需工具的挑战。研究计划将被嵌入到一个教育计划中，该计划将把当前的研究、凝聚态理论特殊主题的专业知识和现代教学方法整合到课程中，并鼓励本科生和研究生参与研究和拓展活动。外展工作将积极促进西北大学科学外联和公众参与办公室建立的几个项目，旨在促进科学素养，提高公众科学参与度，并打破人们对科学研究人员的普遍看法。

This CAREER Award supports a project aiming to describe, simulate, and predict new properties and emergent phenomena in physical systems of interacting particles of light. These particles, called photons, are abundant: visible light, radio waves, and x-rays all consist of photons. In free space, an individual photon remains essentially unaffected by the presence of additional photons. This lack of interaction renders photons the perhaps simplest fundamental particles known today. Strong interactions between photons can, however, be induced in artificial systems which confine photons to resonators and force them to interact with an additional component (e.g., an atom or a circuit made of superconducting material). The consequences of the induced interaction between photons are surprising: light can exhibit behavior usually associated with massive particles. Through this award, theoretical models for describing this new type of quantum behavior will be developed and analyzed in the context of upcoming experimental data. The primary goal of research funded by the award is to address the challenge of developing needed tools for the quantitative understanding and prediction of strongly interacting photon states and their properties.The research program will be embedded in an education plan that integrates current research, expertise in special topics of condensed matter theory, and modern teaching methods into the curriculum, and encourages undergraduate and graduate students to engage in research and outreach activities. Outreach efforts will actively contribute to several programs established in Northwestern's Office for Science Outreach and Public Engagement, and are designed to promote science literacy, raise public science engagement, and break down widely held stereotypes of science researchers.