Connecticut’s oldest planetarium will soon be back in action. Once used for education and outreach for UConn faculty, students, and community members, the planetarium fell into disuse in the last several years, but Department of Physics Assistant Professor-in-Residence Matt Guthrie has been working hard with skilled facilities staff, including CLAS Facilities Team Leader Brett DeMarchi, to bring this piece of UConn history back into working order.
UConn faculty and students will host a community event to view the solar eclipse at 2:00-4:30pm this Monday, April 8, on Horsebarn Hill (behind the Dairy Bar). Here in Storrs we’ll observe a maximum occultation of 92% at 3:28pm. This is a very exciting and special opportunity, since the next time that our location will […]
Two of UConn Physics Department’s undergrads, Rachel Cleveland and Nicholas Thiel-Hudson, have been recently selected as part of the 2024 cohort of UConn University Scholars! These students were selected based on the strength of their proposal. Graduation as a University Scholar recognizes a student’s extraordinary engagement with self-reflective learning and research or creative endeavors.
After years of disuse, the UConn Observatory, featuring a 16-inch optical telescope, is coming back into service. Physics faculty member Matt Guthrie, a driving force behind this rejuvenation effort spoke with UConn Today about the benefits offered by the Observatory both to students and to the community.
On October 14, 2023 40-50 members and friends of the UConn Physics department took part in the 51’st annual ascent up Mount Monadnock, near Jaffrey, New Hampshire. After the hike, the then-hungry hikers descended to the campground near Gilson Pond and enjoyed some well-earned refreshments.
Dr. Esteban Goetz, Department of Physics, University of Connecticut
Interferometric Harmonic Spectroscopy for Electron Dynamics Imaging and Attosecond Pulse Train Phase Characterization
The advent of ultrashort light pulses has opened the possibility of investigating atomic and molecular processes on their natural time scales. In particular, Attosecond Transient Absorption Spectroscopy (ATAS) [1], a technique that allows to time-resolve the quantum dynamics of electrons by monitoring the absorption of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) radiation by an atomic or molecular system when the latter is dressed by an infrared (IR) laser source.
Motivated by recent experimental advances in self-referenced interferometric harmonic spectroscopy [2], we theoretically investigate an alternative approach to ATAS for electron dynamics imaging and attosecond pulse train (APT) phase characterization. In contrast to ATAS, which gives access to the imaginary part of the refractive index through an absorption measurement, an interferometric phase measurement gives information of its real part. In this talk, I will discuss the link between the XUV phase measurements of Ref. [2] and the different photoexcitation pathways occurring at the atomic level which are imprinted in the real part of the macroscopic refractive index. As an application, we show how such an interferometric approach can be used for phase retrieval of attosecond pulse trains based on two-arm harmonic spectroscopy and an optimization algorithm. Finally, I will highlight the impact of spin-orbit couplings and macroscopic and field propagation effects on the phase measurements and APT phase retrieval. Our theoretical description is based on numerical solution of the scalar Maxwell equations beyond Beer’s Law for the macroscopic field propagation coupled to the time-dependent Schroedinger equation for the quantum dynamics.
[1] M. Holler et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 123601 (2011)
[2] G. R. Harrison et al., arXiv:2305.17263 (2023)
Circuit complexity and functionality: a thermodynamic perspective
We explore a link between complexity and physics for circuits of given functionality. Taking advantage of the connection between circuit counting problems and the derivation of ensembles in statistical mechanics, we tie the entropy of circuits of a given functionality and fixed number of gates to circuit complexity. We use thermodynamic relations to connect the quantity analogous to the equilibrium temperature to the exponent describing the exponential growth of the number of distinct functionalities as a function of complexity. This connection is intimately related to the finite compressibility of typical circuits. Finally, we use the thermodynamic approach to formulate a framework for the obfuscation of programs of arbitrary length – an important problem in cryptography – as thermalization through recursive mixing of neighboring sections of a circuit, which can viewed as the mixing of two containers with “gases of gates”. This recursive process equilibrates the average complexity and leads to the saturation of the circuit entropy, while preserving functionality of the overall circuit. The thermodynamic arguments hinge on ergodicity in the space of circuits which we conjecture is limited to disconnected ergodic sectors due to fragmentation. The notion of fragmentation has important implications for the problem of circuit obfuscation as it implies that there are circuits with same size and functionality that cannot be connected via local moves. Furthermore, we argue that fragmentation is unavoidable unless the complexity classes NP and coNP coincide.
Quantum acoustics and the physics of the strange metals
ABSTRACT:
Quantum acoustics is the analog of quantum optics, with phonons playing the role of photons. The classical fields (electromagnetic, acoustic) are reached by virtue of coherent states in both cases. Quantum acoustics leads to two time dependent, interacting wave fields, one lattice, one quantum. The electron diffuses at a Planckian rate, independent of electron-lattice coupling and temperature, and the calculated resistivity is linear in temperature. Mott-Ioffe-Regel and Drude peak mysteries are also resolved. A rather different carrier transport scenario emerges for the strange metals.
Tunable moire sublattices in twisted square homobilayers: exploiting fundamental principles for new technologies
Stacking and twisting atomically thin bilayers at small angles produces an approximate periodic pattern, due to the overlap of the crystal layers. These devices, dubbed “moire” bilayers, exhibit a high degree of tunability and variability: through choice of twist angle, constituent layers, and gating. To date, a number of such devices have been built which have demonstrated a plethora of novel phases, including non-trivial topology and Mott physics. Despite this explosion in moire research, moire bilayers have been almost exclusively formed from layers with triangular/hexagonal crystal geometry, and where the valence bands are centered on the Gamma or K/K’ high symmetry points. Here we theoretically demonstrate that moire devices formed from square bilayers can be used to simulate the ground state of the Hubbard model, but where the ratio of the nearest-neighbor (t) and next-to-nearest neighbor (t’) tunneling can be tuned between zero and infinity, in situ via an electric field. If experimentally realized, such a device would be the first of its kind, and would open a pathway toward the testing of a number of proposed exotic phases, such as a spin-liquid and d+id superconductivity. Most importantly, the square Hubbard model is a quintessential model for high-Tc in cuprates, where numerics has demonstrated the absence of superconductivity when t’=0.
Graduate student Geoff Harrison, Department of Physics, University of Connecticut
ITAS: A Technique for Complete Quantum Measurements on a New Timescale
Transient absorption spectroscopy is a well-established technique used to study electron dynamics in atomic and molecular systems but typically can only measure the magnitude of the electronic wavefunction. We have integrated interferometric methods into this technique to allow complete quantum measurements of both the magnitude and phase of electronic wavefunctions. A spatial light modulator (SLM) is used to separate the interferometric arms in an extremely stable way, enabling the measurement of effects on the zeptosecond timescale (with a jitter of 3zs). In this talk, I’ll describe how we’ve utilized SLMs to make these measurements possible and share some initial data we’ve taken looking at phase effects in argon.