The aim of HIMMS is toinvestigate mesoscopic metastable textures created under controlled non-equilibrium conditions in quantum materials. The focus is on topological transitions and quantum jamming phenomena. Temporally tempered excitation techniques combined with time-resolved scanning tunnelling microscopy will be used to studying single and multiple transition outcomes with atomic spatial resolution on timescales from picoseconds to hours. Experiments supplemented by new theoretical approaches will address the creation processes, relaxation dynamics and quantum decoherence of metastable mesoscopic structures, as well as manipulation and control of the relevant false vacuum state barrier. Theoretical approaches for addressing resulting quantum state dynamics include fracton-derived models and quantum annealing on a quantum computer. The project opens the path to detailed exploration of a new class of physical phenomena of wide fundamental interest in different areas of physics, while opening new avenues in non-equilibrium solid state quantum systems technology.
