Mark Rudner, Niels Bohr Institute
Wednesday, January 18, 2017 - 3:30pm to 4:30pm
PAT C-520
Recent work on topological materials has revealed a wide variety of
intriguing phenomena that may arise when particles move in
"non-trivial" bands. At the same time, modern advances in
experimental capabilities for controlling electronic, atomic, and
optical systems open new possibilities for dynamically controlling the
behaviors of a range of quantum systems. In this talk I will review
the basic ideas behind topological band theory, and then explain how
periodic driving can be used to gain dynamical control over the
topological properties of quantum matter. In the driven case,
intriguing new types of robust non-equilibrium topological phenomena
emerge. I will show how this occurs, and discuss recent and proposed
experiments aimed at harnessing these exciting possibilities.