Hui Deng, University of Michigan
When
Where
Topology of Light-Matter Hybrids
Abstract: Topology has provided a new framework for transport and nonlinear phenomena in novel states of matter. Photonic crystals are facile for realizing spatial geometry and symmetries by design. They have provided a fertile ground for exploring non-trivial topologies where time reversal symmetry is preserved. But achieving Chern bands in photonic systems remains challenging due to the requirement of breaking time-reversal symmetry. Integration of 2D material excitons with photonic crystals allows control of the time-reversal symmetry via the excitonic medium, though opening a sufficiently large topological gap remains challenge in experiments in the conventional paradigm. We will discuss how van der Waals materials enable new pathways to realize Chern insulators. In a matter-light hybrid created by integrating 2D semiconductors on symmetry-engineered photonic crystals, topological gaps can be opened at the center of the Brillouin zone, readily allowing higher-order Chern bands and topological gap sizes two orders of magnitude larger than previously possible. New approaches to achieve time-reversal symmetry breaking also allow fast electrical or optical control of the topological properties.
Bio: Hui Deng is a Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her research centers on the creation, control, and application of single- and many-body quantum states in matter-light coupled systems, with an overarching goal of developing robust quantum systems for future technology. She received her BS in Modern Applied Physics from Tsinghua University, followed by an MS in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Applied Physics from Stanford University. She is a recipient of the NSF Career Awards, AFOSR Young Investigator Awards, and the Humboldt Foundation Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award. She is a fellow of APS and Optica.
3:00 PM in PAS 201 / Zoom https://arizona.zoom.us/j/86395646910
Refreshments in PAS 236, 2:30PM