NSF Award
2104770
Nontechnical Abstract:<br/>The goal of this research is to investigate new states of matter induced by light. The project studies the occurrence of these states and their manipulation under continuous light illumination, using atomically thin materials that can be grown with scalable processes, thereby broadening their potential applications for novel devices. The research team expects a strong educational impact of the project: In addition to working on cutting-edge research in condensed matter physics in the PIs’ labs, graduate students are exposed to a world-class facility like the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. The lead university in the project is a Hispanic Serving <br/>Institution, with students from local Native American tribes, providing unique opportunities for outreach efforts. <br/><br/>Technical Abstract:<br/>A large number of crystal structures have been predicted to host novel states of matter that are robust due to their topological nature, linking them to a number, the Chern number, which is a bulk invariant, unaffected by defects or sample shape. As a result, the bulk of these materials is insulating and the surface is conducting, with an integer number of counter-propagating, spin-polarized, resistance-free, edge current modes holding promise for applications in topological low-loss electronics and spintronics. This project goes beyond the crystal-structure- defined topological materials and addresses the possibility of a topological state of matter being induced in a material that does not have such edge states and is topologically trivial. Recent theories predict that light can act as a topological switch to induce topologically protected Floquet-Bloch edge states in some atomically thin topologically trivial materials. This project studies the generation of Floquet-Bloch edge states by driving two-dimensional materials away from equilibrium with steady-state illumination, thereby inducing topological states “on demand”.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
