Events
Condensed Matter Seminar
Topological Defects : Creating and Imaging Quantum Matter
Prof. Eric Akkermans
Technion
Mon, 09 Jun 2025, 11:10
Sacta-Rashi Building for Physics (54), room 207
Abstract: The tenfold classification of insulators and superconductors provides a useful and elegant framework to study topological features in condensed matter. It enables the classification of quantum materials based on certain symmetries, such as time reversal, particle-hole, and chiral, as well as spatial dimension. We demonstrate that building topological quantum materials on demand is feasible by introducing specific and properly tailored defects and textures (e.g., vortices, kinks, domain walls, vacancies) so as to navigate across the tenfold classification. Drawing from a deep analogy with the classification of topological defects in thermodynamic phase transitions, we develop a theory of topological phase transitions. Though predicting novel topological phases is valuable, observing them is crucial. We propose a direct measurement of topological numbers by examining dislocation patterns visible through STM imaging, stemming from a new mesoscopic interference effect. Finally, we will show how defect-induced and topologically protected states can be engineered to create and manipulate inter-particle quantum entanglement.
Particles and Fields Seminar
Many-body teleportation in the multi-boundary traversable wormhole protocol
Tal Schwartzman
BGU
Mon, 09 Jun 2025, 14:00
Sacta-Rashi Building for Physics (54), room 207
Abstract: Unlike standard quantum teleportation, the many-body teleportation protocol works by spreading information across a large number of degrees of freedom. The protocol originates from a microscopic realization of holographic traversable wormholes and has been shown to be useful for diagnosing scrambling when the out-of-time-order (OTOC) correlator isn't sufficient. In addition, it can distinguish different scrambling behaviors, with holographic systems thought to rely on a unique mechanism. Holography predicts that using the same protocol, information can travel between two boundaries of a spacetime having a multi-boundary wormhole. In this work, we explore the teleportation protocol for qubit systems in the infinite temperature three-boundary setting and observe new features that resemble the holographic phenomenon of causal shadows. Adding the third boundary provides further spatial resolution to the dynamics of information spreading.
Physics Colloquium
On-chip ultrafast acceleration: a revolutionary technology for light-matter interaction
Roy Shiloh
Hebrew University
Tue, 10 Jun 2025, 12:00
Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science & Technology (51), room 015
Abstract: Our research focuses on using laser light to accelerate electron beams in free space through nanophotonic structures. This technology stands out from other particle acceleration methods due to its inherent miniaturization, potentially enabling direct integration into the human body via endoscopes for localized tumor irradiation, or compact designs suitable for small optical tables or space applications. Additionally, it can be driven with high repetition rates—from hundreds of kHz to MHz, and potentially GHz—producing attosecond electron pulses, with performance limited only by the laser technology driving it, which is typically a femtosecond laser now commercially available as a standard. In contrast, conventional high-energy electron accelerators, like the Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC), require infrastructure spanning several kilometers and hundreds of staff, while cutting-edge peta-Watt lasers operate at much lower pulse rates, often below one pulse per second. Thanks to its excellent beam quality—comparable to that of advanced electron microscopes—this technology holds promise for developing tabletop, high-repetition-rate ultrafast electron sources with energies reaching 1 MeV and beyond.
In this talk, I will focus on our recent experimental achievements [1-2] – a proof-of-concept experiment showing that the on-chip electron accelerator works. Although feasible "on-paper", it was not straightforward to realize this in the lab. This feat required the conjoined efforts of different fields and tools: accelerator physics, nanophotonics, nanofabrication, electromagnetics, among others. We will review all the ingredients needed to construct the accelerator on a chip – and discuss the next steps.
[1] R. Shiloh, J. Illmer, T. Chlouba, P. Yousefi, N. Schönenberger, U. Niedermayer, A. Mittelbach, and P. Hommelhoff, "Electron Phase Space Control in Photonic Chip-Based Particle Acceleration," Nature 597, 498 (2021).
[2] T. Chlouba, R. Shiloh, S. Kraus, L. Brückner, J. Litzel, and P. Hommelhoff, "Coherent Nanophotonic Electron Accelerator," Nature 622, 476 (2023).
*** Refreshments at 12:00, talk at 12:15.
Physics Colloquium
TBA
Oren Cohen
Technion
Tue, 17 Jun 2025, 12:00
SPECIAL LOCATION: 43/015 (Chemistry auditorium)
Abstract:
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