Exciting Moiré materials for quantum matter and light

About this event

This event is a ~1h advanced seminar from Prof Ajit Srivastava in the Stückelberg auditorium. The event is followed by an aperitif.

Abstract

Atomically thin materials, such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides, are at the forefront of research in quantum materials physics. This is largely due to the ease with which they can be combined into engineered heterostructures that exhibit emergent electronic and optical properties. In contrast to conventional crystals with fixed lattice constants and atomic orbitals, moiré crystals form superlattices with tunable lattice constants whose unit cells host emergent moiré orbitals, thus offering new possibilities for designing quantum materials. The study of strongly interacting electrons in moiré heterostructures of semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides, such as WSe₂, WS₂, and MoTe₂, has led to the discovery of long-sought quantum phases such as fractional Chern insulators and unconventional superconductivity. While equilibrium electronic phases have been extensively studied, the quantum phases that can emerge in a many-body system of optically excited electrons remain largely unexplored. For example, can shining light create or stabilize phases with fractionalized quantum numbers and statistics? These out-of-equilibrium quantum phases could also serve as sources of exotic light. In this talk, I will present moiré crystals as a rich platform to study and create quantum matter in a driven–dissipative setting and to uncover novel cooperative phenomena.