Quantum Matter Manipulation with Coherent Bosons 

Time: Apr 2nd, 10am – 11am

Location:  W M. Keck Computational Materials Theory Center Room 1310 – Live Oak

Speaker: Iliya Esin, Caltech (Gil Refael's group)

Title: Quantum Matter Manipulation with Coherent Bosons 

Abstract: 

Manipulating quantum matter via external stimuli is at the frontier of quantum materials science. In this talk, I will discuss the potential of using coherent bosonic fields—such as photons, phonons, and polaritons—to manipulate material properties on demand. A judicious choice of the system configuration and the bosonic driving field can lead to exotic non-equilibrium phenomena, including topological phases, spontaneous symmetry breaking, and metal-to-insulator transitions. In pursuit of realizing effective driving sources, I will introduce our latest work on developing a hyperbolic phonon-polariton laser. This device can serve as a tool for inducing and probing novel non-equilibrium phases in solid-state materials, with potential applications in electronics, quantum sensing, and computation. 

About Speaker: 

Iliya is a Postdoctoral Scholar Research Associate in Theoretical Physics in the condensed matter theory group at Caltech. He got his PhD from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. His research interests are in non-equilibrium quantum control. He is exploring tailored setups and protocols that drive the quantum state of the system toward a specific target non-equilibrium state. He is particularly interested in novel tunable platforms, such as the 2D Van der Waals materials and heterostructures, and synthetic matter realized within the atomic molecular and optical framework. He aims to utilize their unique properties to realize states for new device paradigms with applications spanning electronics, metrology, and quantum information.