Rice University hosted the first International workshop on the quantum vacuum in matter October 11-13 at the Ralph S. O’Connor Building for Engineering and Science. The three-day event brought together leading experts in the field from around the world to discuss recent advances, discoveries and research priorities.
“The quantum vacuum is a fascinating subject,” said Hanyu Zhu, assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering, William Marsh Rice Chair and chair of the workshop organizing and program committee. “In everyday practice, vacuum is considered empty, but according to quantum theory and the uncertainty principle, vacuum, even at absolute zero temperature, is filled with transient fields of all possible forces due to quantum fluctuations.”
Knowledge derived from the study of the quantum vacuum could help scientists design electronic, magnetic and optical materials with new properties that could enable applications in a range of fields with some of the information processing and sensing technologies the most exciting.
Scientists’ ability to probe the effects of the quantum vacuum has advanced significantly in recent years thanks to advances in light-matter coupling regimes and cavity quantum electrodynamics. Scientists can now go beyond just probing the vacuum and control its properties.
“It may seem crazy to obtain information from nothing, but the vacuum effect can be felt via changes in the energetically excited states of matter,” Zhu said.
“Heavy-duty coupling describes the interaction between two quantum fields, such as light and electronic excitations in matter,” said Junichiro Kono, Karl. Professor F. Hasselmann in engineering. “Even the smallest quantum fluctuation in one area can cause a change in the other. These interactions are often stimulated by a optical cavitywhere light bounces several times between two mirrors.
These quantum systems are typically studied in configurations involving small numbers of atoms, but research on larger samples containing billions of atoms poses a very different challenge.
“This is the direction we want to pursue because it could allow us to delve deeper into the nature of the quantum vacuum,” said Kono, who recently obtained research funding In the field.
The collective movement of atoms in larger material samples provides more room for vacuum manipulation, but at the same time, quantum effects are much more ephemeral at this scale.
“Ideas are flowing, but very little is known,” Zhu said. “Based on our extensive experience in the field of ultra-strong couplings, many-body quantum theory And optical spectroscopyI hope that Rice will become a research center for the study of the quantum vacuum and that this event will help attract a talented and ambitious pool of students looking to contribute to cutting-edge quantum research.
(Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
With Kono, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Kaden Hazzardassociate professor of physics and astronomy and co-chair of the Rice Quantum InitiativeZhu coordinated an interdisciplinary research project dedicated to the study of quantum phenomena such as entanglement states and the ground state. quantum compression in matter.
“To observe quantum compression, we first need to understand how the ground state of the vacuum works,” Zhu said.
Funded by a grant Through the Keck Foundation and matching funds from the university, the project is overseen by an advisory board comprised of leading researchers in the field.
“The International Workshop on Quantum Vacuum in Matter grew out of this advisory committee,” Zhu said. “Part of what brings together the researchers who attended the conference is our interest in going beyond studying these effects in just a few atoms to studying them in solids.”
Other workshop sponsors include the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Army Research Office, the Smalley-Curl Institute and the Rice Office of Research.
More information about the workshop can be found here.
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CAPTION: Participants at the first iteration of the International Workshop on the Quantum Vacuum in Matter held at Rice University. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2023/10/QVM-Conference-4.jpg
CAPTION: Thomas Killian, dean of Rice’s Wiess School of Natural Sciences, delivered the event’s keynote address. (Photo by Laura Livingston/Rice University)https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2023/10/231010_HP_Fitlow_512.jpg
CAPTION: Hanyu Zhu of Rice is chair of the workshop’s organizing and program committee.
(Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2023/10/231010_HP_Fitlow_542.jpg
(Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2023/10/231010_HP_Fitlow_523.jpg
(Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University) - Related stories:
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The discovery could lead to terahertz technology for quantum sensing:
https://news.rice.edu/news/2023/discovery-may-lead-terahertz-technology-quantum-sensingKeck and Rice support Zhu’s quantum project:
https://msne.rice.edu/news/keck-rice-back-zhus-quantum-projectRice’s Hanyu Zhu wins NSF CAREER Award:
https://msne.rice.edu/news/hanyu-zhu-receives-nsf-career-awardRice wins Moore Foundation grant for quantum vacuum research:
https://news.rice.edu/news/2022/rice-wins-moore-foundation-grant-quantum-vacuum-research
- Connections:
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International workshop on the quantum vacuum in matter: https://qvm.rice.edu/
Zhu Laboratory: https://zhugroup.rice.edu/
Kono Laboratory: http://kono.rice.edu/
Danger group: http://kaden.rice.edu/group.html
Smalley-Curl Institute: https://sci.rice.edu/
Rice Quantum Initiative: https://quantum.rice.edu/
Rice Advanced Magnet with Broadband Optics (RAMBO): http://kono.rice.edu/rambo/
George R. Brown School of Engineering: https://engineering.rice.edu
- About rice:
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Located on a 300-acre wooded campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of architecture, business, continuing studies, engineering, humanities, music, natural and social sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 4,574 undergraduates and 3,982 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6 to 1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lasting friendships, just one reasons why Rice is ranked #1 for many race/class interactions, #2 for best managed colleges, and #12 for quality of life by Princeton University. Goodbye. Rice is also considered one of the best value private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.
