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Presentations

Visualizing Quantum Matter

Monday, May 4th, 2015
J.C. Séamus Davis
4:30pm

Ballroom, Alice Campbell Alumni Center 601 South Lincoln Avenue Urbana

Event Description

The Twenty-Fifth Arnold O. Beckman Lecture on Science and Innovation
Everything around us, everything each of us has ever experienced, and virtually everything underpinning our technological society and economy is governed by quantum mechanics. Yet this most fundamental physical theory of nature often feels as if it is a set of somewhat eerie and counterintuitive ideas of no direct relevance to our lives. Why is this? One reason is that we cannot perceive the strangeness (and astonishing beauty) of the quantum mechanical phenomena all around us by using our own senses.

I will describe the recent development of techniques that allow us to image electronic quantum phenomena directly at the atomic scale. As examples, we will visually explore the previously unseen and very beautiful forms of quantum matter making up electronic liquid crystals [1,2]; hybridized heavy-fermions [3,4]; topological surface-states [5];and high temperature superconductors [6,7]. I will discuss the implications for fundamental physics research, and also for advanced materials and new technologies, arising from these quantum matter visualization techniques .

 

[1] Science 315, 1380 (2007)
[2] Science 327, 181 (2010)
[3] Nature 466, 374 (2010)
[4] Nat. Phys. 9, 468 (2013)
[5] PNAS 113, 1316 (2015)
[6] Science 336, 563 (2012)
[7] Science 344, 612 (2014)

Sponsored by:  Center for Advanced Study, Department of Physics, Research Board

J.C. Séamus Davis

J. G. White Distinguished Professor of Physical Sciences, Cornell University