This event was recorded on December 13, 2023 at Aspen Center for Physics during the 2023 DeWolf Foundation Physics Talks, in partnership with Aspen Public Radio.
Quantum physics is about how the world works on its tiniest scales, typically a few atoms or smaller. In the quantum realm, particles are waves and waves are particles. Things we take for granted about how the world works no longer seem to apply, and the line between what is and what is not gets blurred. With quantum materials, scientists are trying to take these strange quantum properties inside of materials and bring them to the forefront where we can use them and where we can control them. Inside of each new quantum material, it’s like a whole new universe, and new particles can emerge inside. Within the quantum materials known as spin ice, we can create the elusive magnetic monopole, a particle long theorized to exist, but not yet observed out in the wild. Inside of semiconductor sandwiches, we can even create particles that are otherwise impossible, like anyons, which have no counterpart in the natural universe. In this talk, Carlson discusses these and other quantum materials, including one that we already use every day.
ABOUT ERICA CARLSON
Erica W. Carlson, Ph.D., is Professor of Physics at Purdue University. Prof. Carlson holds a BS in Physics from the California Institute of Technology (1994), as well as a Ph.D. in Physics from UCLA (2000). Prof. Carlson researches electronic phase transitions in quantum materials. In 2015, she was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society "for theoretical insights into the critical role of electron nematicity, disorder, and noise in novel phases of strongly correlated electron systems and predicting unique characteristics." Prof. Carlson has been on the faculty at Purdue University since 2003, where she was recently named a "150th Anniversary Professor" in recognition of teaching excellence.