Hyperbolic Poincare Projection
The field of circuit QED has emerged as a rich platform for both quantum computation and quantum simulation. Lattices of coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonators realize artificial photonic materials in the tight-binding limit. Combined with strong qubit-photon interactions, these systems can be used to study dynamical phase transitions, many-body phenomena, and spin models in driven-dissipative systems. These waveguide cavities are uniquely deformable and can produce lattices and networks which cannot readily be obtained in other systems, including periodic lattices in a hyperbolic space of constant negative curvature, and the one-dimensional nature of CPW resonators leads to degenerate flat bands. In our lab, we build experimental implementations of these systems using superconducting circuits.
Postdoc and graduate student positions available! Send email to: akollar@umd.edu
Kollár Receives Air Force Young Investigator Grant
JQI Fellow Alicia Kollár has been awarded a grant by the Air Force’s Young Investigator Research Program (YIP). She is one of 36 early-career researchers around the US to receive the three-year, $450,000 award.
Mind and Space Bending Physics on a Convenient Chip
Thanks to Einstein, we know that our three-dimensional space is warped and curved. And in curved space, normal ideas of geometry and straight lines break down, creating a chance to explore an unfamiliar landscape governed by new rules. Spaces that have different geometric rules than those we usually take for granted are called non-Euclidean. Physicists are interested in new physics that curved space can reveal, and non-Euclidean geometries might even help improve designs of certain technologies. One type of non-Euclidean geometry that is of interest is hyperbolic space. Even a two-dimensional, physical version of a hyperbolic space is impossible to make in our normal, “flat” environment. But scientists can still mimic hyperbolic environments to explore how certain physics plays out in negatively curved space. In a recent paper in Physical Review A, a collaboration between Kollár’s research group and JQI Fellow Alexey Gorshkov’s group presented new mathematical tools to better understand simulations of hyperbolic spaces. The research builds on Kollár’s previous experiments to simulate orderly grids in hyperbolic space by using microwave light contained on chips. Their new toolbox includes what they call a “dictionary between discrete and continuous geometry” to help researchers translate experimental results into a more useful form. With these tools, researchers can better explore the topsy-turvy world of hyperbolic space.
Extremal Lattices
New mathematical physics result is on the arXiv (2005.05379), including unique quasi-one-dimensional lattices with the largest possible bang gaps.
Line-Graphs paper accepted to Communications in Mathematical Physics
Our mathematical-physics paper on the connection between circuit QED lattices and combinatorial graph theory (Line-Graph Lattices: Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Flat Bands and Implementations in Circuit QED) was accepted fro Publication in a mathematical journal: "Communications in Mathematical Physics".
Kollár Joins JQI
JQI has named four new Fellows in 2019, bringing the total number to 35. All four of the new arrivals have appointments in the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland. One Fellow is also a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UMD and another is a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Alicia Kollár arrived in August as a JQI Fellow and the Chesapeake Assistant Professor of Physics. She is also a founding member of the QTC.
JQI welcomes four newest Fellows
JQI has named four new Fellows in 2019, bringing the total number to 35. All four of the new arrivals have appointments in the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland. One Fellow is also a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UMD and another is a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).