JOŽEF STEFAN INSTITUTE
Department of Complex Matter
Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Dynamics of Quantum matter

We explore non-equilibrium many-body dynamics in quantum systems that experience symmetry-breaking, topological, or jamming transitions. These systems encompass superconductors, charge-density wave, and magnetic materials.

Experimental Soft Matter Physics

The research is conducted within the “Light and Matter” research program. The interaction of light with matter is one of the most important fields of physics and optical processes are indispensable in many branches of modern industry.

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December 15 - 19, 2024 , Krvavec, Slovenia
Together with the Department of Theoretical Physics at JSI we are organizing the 13th Nonequilibrium Quantum Workshop. The workshop intends to bring together scientists working in the field of: Ultrafast ...
Home / News / Work on manipulation of fractionalized charge in Wigner crystal published in Nat…

Work on manipulation of fractionalized charge in Wigner crystal published in Nature Communications

December 11, 2023

Metastability of quantum states is rare and still poorly understood posing a significant exprimental and theoretical challenge. In a paper just published in Nature Communications by Anže Mraz and coworkers from the group of Dragan Mihailovic from the Jožef Stefan Institute in collaboration with with the Electrotechnical Faculty at the University of Ljubljana succeeded in visualising the microscopic dynamics of electrons in the metastable state of 1TTaS₂. Using a specially built low-temperature multiple-tip scanning tunnelling microscope they show that injected electrons form topological networks which cannot easily decay in order to return to the ground states. Surprisingly, the effective charge of the electrons is no longer integer, but takes on fractional values such as 13/10, 23/40 and 3611/5000. The number of such fractional states is large, but finite. The possibility of manipulating such topologically entangled networks with electrical current from an external circuit shows the way forward in the search for elusive metastable states in quantum many body systems, as well new quantum devices for quantum computation.

You can read the article here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43800-3