Recent years have seen the development of several experimental systems capable of tuning local parameters of quantum Hamiltonians, including ultracold atoms, trapped ions, superconducting circuits and photonic crystals. These systems excel in studying the physics of bosons in disorder-free settings. A solid state analog, in which Hamiltonians of interacting electrons are designed and studied, remains a major open challenge, since in conventional solids electrons exist inside an imperfect host material that generates uncontrolled disorder. In this talk, I will describe our newly-developed platform for realizing in suspended carbon nanotubes such disorder-free, locally-tunable electronic systems. This platform becomes possible due to a new technique for nano-assembly of carbon nanotubes on complex electrical circuits without damaging their pristine electronic behavior. I will demonstrate how these systems enable us to modify the fundamental interactions in the solid-state, using two specific examples: The engineering of an artificial, tailorable coupling between electrons and phonons, and the creation of attraction between electrons using only their repulsion – a problem that has been open for half a century. These new interactions pave the way for the formation, in engineered solids, artificial superconductivity that is very different from that found in nature.


Seminar, February 23, 2015, 15:00. Seminar Room

Hosted by Prof. Adrian Bachtold