3:30–4:30 pm
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When Photon Self-Organize: Mott Insulators and Laughlin States of Light
Jon Simon, University of Chicago
Host: Young-Kee Kim
In this talk I will describe the first materials composed of self-organized, strongly-interacting photons. These are (1) a Laughlin molecule of optical photons, and (2) a Mott insulator of microwave photons. The challenge of using light to make and probe these materials will teach us what each of these quantum few-body states is, and because we must engineer the photons to realize each necessary ingredient from the ground up, the materials will be distilled to their bare essentials. I will conclude with prospects to push these ideas even further, from synthetic wormholes for light to optical/mm-wave inter-converters.