Prof Steven Bramwell
My research involves experiment (neutron scattering, magnetometry and specific heat) and theory (statistical mechanics) on spin model magnets. These are magnetic materials designed to mimic simple models of interacting spins or vectors. For many years I have been particularly interested in the scope of real materials to realise spin models that capture universal aspects of many body behaviour, and which therefore have applications well beyond magnetism. Much of my work has been concerned with two dimensional critical systems, analogues of turbulent flow, analogues of proton disorder in ice (spin ice, which I co-discovered) and analogues of Coulomb fluids. I also have an interest in demagnetizing effects, in thermal electric field fluctuations and in the general properties of structure factors or scattering functions.
Dr Frank Kruger
Our group investigates the formation of novel states of quantum matter in strongly correlated electron systems. We use analytical tools such as quantum field theory and renormalisation group calculations to understand the collective behaviour of electrons and the nature of quantum phase transitions between different phases of matter. More recently, we have started to study quantum spin liquids. These are highly frustrated magnetic materials in which strong quantum fluctuations prevent the formation of magnetic order down to absolute zero temperature. Remarkably, the spin degrees of freedom can break up or fractionalise into particles that satisfy fermionic quantum statistics. Although the emergent fermions in insulating quantum spin liquids don’t carry electric charge, they behave in many respects like interacting electrons in metals. In addition, they are coupled to gauge fields, resulting in even richer behaviours.
Prof Marzena Szymanska
Our group researches out-of-equilibrium quantum phenomena in driven-dissipative light-matter systems. These systems bridge the gap between quantum optics and many-body quantum theory where many degrees-of-freedom give rise to emergent collective behaviour. The presence of drive and dissipation mean that the Hamiltonian is not the only source of dynamics, resulting in rich phenomena which is intrinsically different to its equilibrium counterpart. We apply a combination of analytical methods (Keldysh Field Theory, Renormalisation Group, Green’s Functions, Quantum Trajectories, Master Equations) in addition to numerical techniques (Stochastic Phase Space Simulations, Truncated Wigner, Positive-P, Tensor Networks) to better understand novel behaviour in non-equilibrium, for example: superfluidity in condensates, phase transitions in low-dimensions and non-equilibrium universality classes such as Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ). Recently we have been extending our research to highly tuneable driven-dissipative lattices of bosons, spins and fermions. A large class of these can be faithfully represented by tensor networks and we are currently interested in extrapolating established ideas for closed systems to open systems to give insight into symmetry-protected phases and to address fundamental questions of entanglement growth.
Dr Mark Buitelaar
The focus of our group is on the experimental study of solid-state quantum devices for quantum information processing applications. For device fabrication and development we benefit from the excellent
Prof Pavlo Zubko
We investigate the fascinating physical phenomena that emerge in nanoscale complex oxides. Using physical vapour deposition methods, we create artificially layered materials and study their structure
Prof Steven Schofield
Steven Schofield is a Professor in the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Physics and Astronomy. He aims to understand and control matter at the atomic scale for fundamental
Prof Andrew G Green
My group has broad-ranging interest in many-body quantum phenomena. This encompasses novel phases of matter induced by quantum fluctuations, fundamental aspects collective quantum dynamics, and the de
Prof Robin Perry
The Perry group specializes in the measurement of properties in functional materials. Functional materials, broadly defined, encompass solid systems with physical properties that can be engineered to
Dr Jonathan Breeze
Our research activities span many areas of condensed matter physics and quantum information science, but our core focus is the study of light-matter interaction, room-temperature solid-state masers an