Events on Friday, February 6th, 2026
- Black and Brown in Physics
- General Meeting
- Time: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
- Place: Chamberlin 2241
- Abstract: Come and join the Black and Brown in Physics (BBiP) student organization at our first general meeting of the Spring 2026 semester. During the meeting, we plan to give you all an overview of our plans for the semester (including a sneak peek into our Black History Heritage month celebration coming later this month -- more info coming later!), followed by a fun trivia game on Black History! There will also be donuts!
The general meeting will take place this upcoming Friday, Feb. 6th at 1 PM in Chamberlin 2241. We hope that you can join us! - Physics Department Colloquium
- Search for Anyons in Quantum Materials
- Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- Place: Chamberlin 2241
- Speaker: Philip Kim, Harvard University
- Abstract: Anyons, quasiparticles with fractional charge and exotic exchange statistics, have inspired decades of condensed matter research. Furthermore, it has been predicted that the exchange braiding of these particles, particularly non-abelian anyons, could produce topologically protected logic operations that may serve as the building blocks of fault-tolerant quantum computing. In this talk, I will discuss progress in researching two quantum materials platforms for realizing these exotic particles. In the first example, we will discuss anyon braiding arising in fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effects in graphene, using quantum Hall interferometers for direct observation of the anyon braiding phase around a confined cavity. In the second example, we will describe our recent experimental efforts to realize non-abelian anyons in proximitized topological insulator surfaces. Using a Corbino device geometry, we demonstrate the controlled manipulation of non-abelian anyons contained in magnetic vortices. We report tantalizing experimental observations to show the presence of non-abelian anyons in both systems.
- Host: Tiancheng Song