Controlling Condensed Matter with Quantum Cavity Fields
by
DrVasil Rokaj(Harvard University)
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Asia/Shanghai
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Description
Abstract
Cavity modification of material properties and phenomena is a novel research field largely motivated by the advances in strong light-matter interactions~[1]. Special interest has been drawn to the modification of transport and conduction properties of 2D materials via strong cavity-coupling, due to recent experimental demonstrations~[2,3]. In this talk we will present how the quantized cavity field can modify fundamental properties of matter, by focusing on two paradigmatic systems of condensed matter, the Sommerfeld model of the free electron gas and the quantum Hall effect. For the Sommerfeld model coupled to the cavity we will present its exact analytic solution and that the cavity field modifies the basic properties of the electron gas~[4]. Then, we will look into the Landau levels in the integer quantum Hall effect and we will show that the cavity field can modify the fundamental quantization of the Hall conductance~[5, 6]. Connections to recent experiments will be discussed as well.
[1] F. Schlawin, D. M. Kennes, M. A. Sentef, Applied Physics Reviews 9 (1), 011312 (2022)
[2] G.L. Paravicini-Bagliani et al., Nat. Phys. 15, 186-190 (2019)
[3] F. Appugliese et al., Science 375 (6584), 1030-1034 (2022)
[4] V. Rokaj, M. Ruggenthaler, F. G. Eich, A. Rubio, Phys. Rev. Research 4, 013012 (2022)
[5] V. Rokaj, M. Penz, M. A. Sentef, M. Ruggenthaler, A. Rubio, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 047202 (2019)
[6] V. Rokaj, M. Penz, M. A. Sentef, M. Ruggenthaler, A. Rubio, arXiv:2109.15075 (2021)
Biography
Vasil studied physics as an undergraduate student at the University of Athens and obtained his B.Sc. degree in 2014. Then, he moved to Hamburg to study mathematical physics, and obtained his M.Sc. from the University of Hamburg in 2016. He joined then the theory department at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter in Hamburg (Germany) to
work under the supervision of Prof. Angel Rubio on "Condensed Matter Systems in Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics'' and obtained his Ph.D. (summa cum laude) in 2021. In his Ph.D., Vasil focused mainly on 2D electron gases and quantum Hall systems under strong coupling to cavities, and showed that the quantum cavity-field can modify the conduction properties of such macroscopic condensed matter systems. During his Ph.D. he also worked on the stability and fundamentals of quantum electrodynamics (QED) as well. Since October 2021 he is an ITAMP postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University working on many-body systems in cavity QED.
