SFB 767 Colloquium: Understanding and manipulating complex quantum systems through elementary excitations

Time
Thursday, 15. November 2018
15:15 - 16:30

Location
P 603

Organizer
Faculty of Science, H. Fischer, 2413

Speaker:
Dr. Falko Pientka, MPI for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden

Understanding and manipulating complex quantum systems through elementary excitations

Complex quantum systems exhibit a wealth of fascinating phenomena that often manifest themselves in
the presence of quasiparticles with intriguing properties. On the one hand, quasiparticles may serve as a
probe to further our understanding of correlated systems and exotic phases of matter, on the other hand,
unique quasiparticle properties may enable novel applications.
As a concrete example, I will discuss a generic novel transport phenomenon of a mobile quantum impurity
immersed in a bath, which is relevant to the dynamics of cold atomic gases as well as exciton polaritons
in semiconductor-microcavity systems. As a second example, I will present a novel platform for Majorana
states in topological superconductors with promising first experimental results, and propose using
Majoranas to simulate strongly correlated systems.