David Hsieh: Optical engineering of quantum materials

Abstract: Periodic driving with strong electromagnetic fields is a powerful technique for manipulating quantum materials. By dynamically tuning the interaction parameters of a Hamiltonian, exotic out-of-equilibrium phases of matter with broken symmetries and topological properties can potentially be realized. However, overcoming challenges such as minimizing heating and maintaining coherence is essential to unlocking the full potential for optically engineering quantum materials.

In this talk, I will share our recent progress in addressing these challenges in strongly correlated magnetic insulators and present preliminary evidence of non-thermal structural phenomenam induced by off-resonant periodic driving in high-quality single crystals. 

Bio: Prof. David Hsieh is an experimental condensed matter physicist. He focuses on the search for exotic broken symmetry phases or topologically non-trivial phases in strongly correlated and strongly spin-orbit coupled systems, as well as in dynamically driven out-of-equilibrium systems. Prof. Hsieh earned his B.S in Physics and Mathematics from Stanford University in 2003 and his Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University in 2009 where he worked on both neutron scattering studies of highly frustrated magnets as well as synchrotron-based spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy of topological insulators. From 2009 to 2012 Prof. Hsieh was a Pappalardo Postdoctoral Fellow in Physics at MIT. There he developed several table-top laser-based techniques to study the ultrafast opto-electronic properties of topological insulators and wider classes of correlated spin-orbit coupled systems. He joined the Caltech faculty in 2012. Prof. Hsieh’s honors include the William L. McMillan Award in condensed matter physics, the Sloan Research Fellowship, the Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists & Engineers, the Brown Investigator Award, and the Moore Foundation Experimental Physics Investigator Award.