CAREER: Developing New Paradigms for Hybrid Light-Matter Quantum Materials

About This Grant

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: This award supports theoretical and computational research, and associated education to investigate the consequences of light interacting with materials and matter. While classical physics views empty space as truly empty, quantum mechanics reveals the vacuum as a sea of constantly fluctuating fields. These quantum fluctuations are essential to understanding how particles of light – photons – interact with matter. When light is spatially confined, as in optical cavities, these fluctuations become amplified, giving rise to strong light-matter interactions that can produce entirely new quantum phenomena. This project explores how such interactions can be harnessed to create exotic quantum states of matter with deeply entangled components. These states are not only scientifically novel but may also serve as architectures for robust quantum information. A key goal is to understand how vacuum fluctuations and nonlocal photon correlations stabilize highly entangled quantum systems capable of robustly storing and processing quantum bits of information. The research will investigate how these light-matter systems behave when driven far from equilibrium – revealing new dynamical regimes that challenge conventional ideas about how systems relax or thermalize – and explore efficient transport of energy and information through photon-matter hybrid quantum states. By integrating research with education and outreach, the project will extend its impact beyond the scientific community. Collaborating with high schools in the metro Atlanta area, it will bring quantum science into classrooms through hands-on activities and demonstrations. It will also launch “Emory Quantum Day,” a campus-wide event that invites students, teachers, and the public to engage with modern quantum research through talks and exhibits. Undergraduate students will receive training and mentorship in theoretical quantum science, preparing them to contribute to the Nation’s future scientific and technological workforce. TECHNICAL SUMMARY: This award supports theoretical and computational research, and associated education to investigate the consequences of light interacting with materials and matter. Understanding how to control and manipulate entanglement in many-body quantum systems is a frontier challenge in modern physics, with far-reaching implications for quantum information science and materials discovery. This award supports theoretical research on hybrid platforms where light and matter interact so strongly that fundamentally new quantum states emerge – transcending the properties of either component alone. The project investigates how electromagnetic vacuum fluctuations and confined light in optical cavities generate unconventional entanglement patterns in matter. A central thrust of this project is to uncover how vacuum fluctuations and non-local photon correlations imprinted in matter contribute to stabilizing long-range entangled phases beyond traditional quantum Hall systems, including time-reversal-invariant fractional topological insulators with spin-active excitations and photon-enabled non-Abelian orders in cavity-integrated superconducting networks. The research will also investigate how strong light-matter entanglement drives novel non-equilibrium and non-ergodic quantum dynamics, and will characterize new transport regimes arising from photon–exciton hybridization in optically active two-dimensional materials. Ultimately, the project aims to classify a new generation of light-matter hybrid materials with quantum functionalities that exceed those achievable by light or matter alone. In parallel, the project integrates research with education and outreach efforts to advance scientific literacy, inspire future scientists, and expand public engagement with quantum science. Through collaboration with public high schools in the metro Atlanta area, it will introduce classroom activities and hands-on demonstrations designed to spark curiosity about physics and expand access to high-quality STEM learning. The project will also establish “Emory Quantum Day,” a campus-wide outreach event that brings students, educators, and the public together to explore advances in quantum sciences through talks, exhibits, and interactive sessions. At the undergraduate level, the project will provide research training and mentorship, preparing students to contribute to the Nation’s scientific and technological enterprise. These efforts will help cultivate a quantum-aware workforce and connect frontier research with broader educational and societal impact. 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.