Dr. Ming Yi, UC-Berkeley

"Fantastic Emergent Orders and Where to Find Them"

Abstract: Spontaneous emergence of orders is a recurring theme in physics that occurs at many different length scales. As an experimental condensed matter physicist, I study interactions occurring at the atomic scale of material systems, where quantum effects lead to orderings of the lattice, charge, spin and orbital degrees of freedom, often manifested in fantastically interesting collective behaviors. In this talk, I will use the material system of the iron-based high temperature superconductors to illustrate the range of exotic electronic orders that have been discovered in recent years. In doing so, we come to appreciate the spectacularly bustling landscape of electronic phases out of which the enigmatic phenomenon of high temperature superconductivity arises.