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Condensed Matter & Materials Physics

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Condensed Matter & Materials Physics (CMMP)

The Condensed Matter & Materials Physics Group (CMMP) consists of 19 research groups who cover a wide range condensed matter physics. The CMMP’s research combines experimental, theoretical and computational approaches. Systems studied include nanodevices, battery materials, multiferroics, chemical reactions, defects, surfaces, correlated electronic states, spin liquids, spin ice, ultrathin epitaxial films, heterostructures, biological systems and soft matter. Techniques applied include neutron and X-ray scattering, atomic-scale fabrication, scanning tunnelling microscopy, thermodynamic measurements, and computational modelling. The CMMP maintains strong connections with the UK central facilities at Harwell, with the Thomas Young Centre for computational materials physics and with the London Centre for Nanotechnology.

 

Research Highlights

 

Exciton transport in molecular organic semiconductors boosted by transient quantum delocalization

Samuele Giannini, Wei-Tao Peng, Lorenzo Cupellini, Daniele Padula, Antoine Carof & Jochen Blumberger

A novel non-adiabatic molecular dynamics simulation is introduced for time-propagation of electronic excitations in organic semiconductors, suggesting that exciton transport in these materials occurs via transient quantum delocalizations.

Giannini, S., Peng, WT., Cupellini, L. et al. Exciton transport in molecular organic semiconductors boosted by transient quantum delocalization. Nat Commun 13, 2755 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30308-5 

Simulating groundstate and dynamical quantum phase transitions on a superconducting quantum computer

James Dborin, Vinul Wimalaweera, F. Barratt, Eric Ostby, Thomas E. O'Brien & A. G. Green

Researchers from UCL, University of Massachusetts, and Google Quantum AI have demonstrated that tensor network methods give current quantum devices genuine potential for quantum advantage.

Dborin, J., Wimalaweera, V., Barratt, F. et al. Simulating groundstate and dynamical quantum phase transitions on a superconducting quantum computer. Nat Commun 13, 5977 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33737-4

Origin of Ferroelectric Domain Wall Alignment with Surface Trenches in Ultrathin Films

Jack S. Baker and David R. Bowler

We used our large scale density functional theory code CONQUEST to study the alignment of ferroelectric domain walls with surface trenches in lead titanate thin films.

Baker, Jack S. and Bowler, David R. Origin of Ferroelectric Domain Wall Alignment with Surface Trenches in Ultrathin Films. Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 247601 (2021). https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.247601

Stable iPEPO Tensor-Network Algorithm for Dynamics of Two-Dimensional Open Quantum Lattice Models

C. Mc Keever and M. H. Szymańska

Being able to accurately describe the dynamics and steady states of driven and/or dissipative but quantum correlated lattice models is of fundamental importance in many areas of science: from quantum information to biology. An efficient numerical simulation of large open systems in two spatial dimensions is a challenge. In this work, we develop a new tensor network method, based on an infinite projected entangled pair operator ansatz, applicable directly in the thermodynamic limit.

McKeever, C. and Szymańska, M. H. Stable iPEPO Tensor-Network Algorithm for Dynamics of Two-Dimensional Open Quantum Lattice Models. Phys. Rev. X 11, 021035 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.11.021035