TITLE: Quantum Control of Quantum Materials, ABSTRACT: Coherently engineering quantum states with light is a key frontier in the control of quantum materials. Over the last two decades, ultrafast lasers have revealed a variety of emergent topological, magnetic, and superconducting states in quantum materials driven far from equilibrium. Early experiments mainly adopted incoherent excitation strategies, […]

Atomistic view of the phase equilibrium and material properties of biomolecular condensates Abstract: Biomolecular condensates, formed through liquid-liquid phase separation, mediate crucial cellular functions and are linked with neurodegeneration and cancer. To reach a fundamental understanding of their phase equilibrium and material properties, we have integrated experimental techniques including optical tweezers and fluorescence imaging with […]

Kramers Nodal Lines, Weyl Fermions and Large Anomalous Hall Effect in SmAlSi and InxTaS2 Kramers nodal lines (KNLs) are a special type of Weyl line degeneracies that connect time reversal invariant momenta (TRIM). KNLs are robust to spin orbit coupling (SOC), and are inherent to all non-centrosymmetric achiral crystal structures. In this talk, I will […]

TITLE: Viable qubits in noisy and strongly interacting systems, ABSTRACT: Quantum sensors and qubits are usually two-level systems, quantum analogs of classical bits assuming binary values ‘0' or ‘1'. They are useful to the extent to which superpositions of ‘0’ and ‘1’ persist despite a noisy environment. The standard prescription to avoid decoherence of solid-state […]

Order from disorder: Designing sequence-programmable protein condensates,   Abstract: Biology provides numerous examples of phase-separated protein and nucleic acid condensates, which establish distinct compartments for spatially organizing biomolecules within living cells. This mechanism of spatial organization relies on the ability of biomolecular systems to navigate high-dimensional phase diagrams by tuning the interactions among proteins and […]

TITLE: Microgels: Heroes or Villains in Soft Matter Science? ABSTRACT: to be announced Host: Bob Leheny