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Events During the Week of March 10th through March 17th, 2024

Monday, March 11th, 2024

Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar
"Advances in optimization for stellarator design"
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm
Place: 1227 Engineering Hall
Speaker: Elizabeth Paul, Columbia University
Abstract: The immense freedom in the stellarator design space provides opportunities for reducing engineering complexity and improving confinement. This talk will provide an overview of recent advances in stellarator optimization and their application to the design of new experiments in the Columbia Plasma Laboratory. Recently, “precisely quasisymmetric” configurations have been obtained, demonstrating excellent confinement of fusion-born alpha particles in the absence of perturbations. There is, however, the potential for enhanced alpha losses due to resonant wave-particle interactions. We present pathways to model and optimize the alpha transport driven by Alfvenic instabilities through modification of the resonance structure and shear Alfven continuum. Furthermore, we discuss the incorporation of engineering constraints, including HTS strain and remote maintenance compatibility, into the stellarator design process. The Columbia Plasma Laboratory will validate these advances. The Columbia Stellarator eXperiment (CSX) will build on the success of the Columbia Non-neutral Torus (CNT) to confine a small aspect ratio quasisymmetric plasma with two shaped interlinked coils. Using this device, we will explore the physics of quasiaxisymmetry and demonstrate non-insulated HTS technology for non-planar magnets.
Host: Prof. Carl Sovinec and Prof. Chris Hegna
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Department Meeting
Closed Department Meeting
Time: 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Place: B343 Sterling Hall
Speaker: Mark Eriksson, UW - Madison
Host: Mark Eriksson
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Plasma Seminar
Structuring Light: The Next Frontier in Laser-Plasma Interactions
Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Place: B343 Sterling Hall
Speaker: Andrew Longman, Lawrence Livermore National Lab
Abstract: Recently, orbital angular momentum (OAM) beams have demonstrated at relativistic intensities at several high-power laser facilities around the world using off-axis spiral phase mirrors. The additional angular momentum carried by OAM beams, even when linearly polarized, introduces a new control parameter in laser plasma interactions and has shown promise to introduce new and exciting phenomena not possible with a standard Gaussian beam. Of particular interest to this seminar is the relativistic inverse Faraday effect where laser angular momentum is absorbed by a plasma generating large axial magnetic fields colinear with the laser k vector. Our recent work has demonstrated that magnetic fields on the order of 100’s of Tesla, extending 100’s of microns, and lasting on the order of 10 picoseconds can be generated with laser powers less than 5 terawatts. I will present results from a recent campaign at the COMET laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in which we used a linearly polarized Laguerre Gaussian laser to drive magnetic fields for the first time in the laboratory. Experimental results will be compared and validated against theory and simulations.
Host: Jan Egedal
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Tuesday, March 12th, 2024

Council Meeting
Physics Council Meeting
Time: 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Place: 2314 Chamberlin Hall
Speaker: Mark Eriksson, UW-Madison
Host: Mark Eriksson
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Wisconsin Quantum Institute Seminar
Theory of g factors in semiconductors -- some history, and new insights
Time: 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Place: Discovery Building, DeLuca Forum
Speaker: David DiVincenzo, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
Abstract:

The g factor of electrons and holes in crystals and heterostructures of silicon, germanium, galium arsenide, etc., is a key parameter in designing spin qubits. I will begin by discussing two different but interrelated definitions of the g factor. Authors have disagreed from the beginning about whether or not g is a symmetric second-rank tensor. I will discuss that g, which is specific to each eigenstate, whether extended or localized, is best discussed in terms of three singular values associated with eigendirections, with a separate discussion about its sign. Luttinger gave a correct formula for the g factors of band electrons, including the orbital contributions arising from the spin-orbit interaction. But it was not until fifty years later, with the advent of Berry-curvature concepts, that his formula could be given a clear physical interpretation. I will show results of a survey we have done of band g factors in silicon and germanium, emphasizing new topological aspects. It is interesting that even silicon, with its very weak spin-orbit interaction, can, because of a combination of topology and symmetry, exhibit g factors very far from 2.

This event starts at 3:30pm with refreshments, followed at 3:45pm by a short presentation by Merritt Losert (PhD student Mark Friesen group), titled "Valley Splitting and Spin Shuttling in Si/SiGe Heterostructures". The invited presentation starts at 4pm.

Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 979 1417 7653 Passcode: 874970

Host: Mark Friesen
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Wednesday, March 13th, 2024

Department Meeting
Time: 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
Place: B343 Sterling
Speaker: Mark Eriksson, UW - Madison
Host: Mark Eriksson
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Thursday, March 14th, 2024

R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar
Detecting, Studying, and Eliminating Quasiparticles in Superconducting Circuits
Time: 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Place: 5310 Chamberlin
Speaker: Eli Levenson-Falk, USC
Abstract: Nonequilibrium populations of quasiparticle excitations plague superconducting circuits, causing errors in quantum processors. I will present our results using aluminum nanobridge Josephson junctions to detect quasiparticles as they trap and untrap in the junctions' internal Andreev bound states. By carefully studying the trapping and untrapping rates as a function of environmental conditions, we can find the quasiparticles' mechanisms of excitation, relaxation, and thermalization. I will further discuss novel filter designs that can eliminate the high-frequency radiation that generates the quasiparticles in the first place.
Host: Maxim Vavilov
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Plasma Seminar
Understanding the plasma universe through laboratory experiments and related models
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Place: B343 Sterling Hall
Speaker: Yang Zhang, Caltech
Abstract: Laboratory experiments and the models they inspire are powerful tools for studying the plasma universe. In this talk, I will present possible solutions to two big problems in the plasma universe, namely how solar flares are generated and how accretion disks transport angular momentum and generate astrophysical jets. Addressing the first problem, I will present observations from a laboratory experiment that simulates solar coronal loop physics. Transient, localized 7.6-keV X-ray bursts and a several-kilovolt voltage spike are observed to be associated with the breaking of braided magnetic flux ropes containing 2 eV plasma. These spikes occur when the braid strand radius is choked down to be at the kinetic scale by either MHD kink or magnetic Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities. The observed sequence reveals an MHD to non-MHD cross-scale coupling that is likely responsible for generating solar energetic particles and X-ray bursts. Addressing the second problem, I will present a first-principles angular momentum transport mechanism based only on collisions between neutrals and charged particles in the presence of gravitational and magnetic fields. I find that ions and electrons drift in opposite radial directions as a result of colliding with Kepler-motion neutrals. This reduces the ordinary angular momentum of neutrals and increases the canonical angular momentum of charged particles in a manner such that the net global canonical angular momentum is conserved. This process provides a gravitational dynamo converting gravitational energy into the electric energy that powers an astrophysical jet. The model predicts an accretion rate of 3 × 10−8 solar mass per year in good agreement with observed accretion rates. Finally, I will discuss my future research plans for using laboratory experiments and related models to study the plasma cosmos.
Host: Jan Egedal
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Astronomy Colloquium
Supercomputer Simulations of the Universe: Interfacing galaxy formation with precision cosmology
Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Place: 4421 Sterling Hall
Speaker: Volker Springel, Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics
Abstract: Numerical simulations of cosmic structure formation have become a powerful tool in astrophysics. Starting right after the Big Bang, they predict the dark matter backbone of the cosmic web far into the non-linear regime and follow complex galaxy formation physics with rapidly improving fidelity. In my talk, I will review the methodology and selected results of recent hydrodynamical galaxy formation simulations, such as the IllustrisTNG MillenniumTNG projects. In particular I will discuss some of the primary challenges in modelling strong, scale-dependent feedback processes that regulate star formation, and highlight the important role played by supermassive black holes in galaxy formation. I will also discuss extremely large simulations and describe how they help to make reliable predictions for the impact of baryons and massive neutrinos on cosmological observables, effects that need to be understood to make full use of upcoming new survey data.
Host: Ke Zhang
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Friday, March 15th, 2024

Graduate Program Event
Prospective Visit Days
Time: 8:30 am
Place: all over Chamberlin
Speaker: various
Abstract: This weekend, we'll host several prospective PhD student visitors to the department. Please welcome them as you see them around Chamberlin!
Host: Sharon Kahn
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Physics Department Colloquium
Using Dissipation to Preserve Superconducting Qubit Coherence
Time: 3:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall
Speaker: Eli Levinson-Falk, USC
Abstract: Superconducting qubits are a leading quantum information technology, combining high coherence, strong addressability, and flexible engineering. However, they are still prone to decoherence due to dissipative couplings to an uncontrolled environment. However, we can use dissipative coupling to a controlled environment to counteract decoherence and preserve the desired behavior. I will discuss some of our results using this approach, and focus on our recent development of a "dissipator" device that creates on-demand loss. By targeting this dissipation at a cavity, we can rapidly remove photons that might cause dephasing in a qubit coupled to the cavity. This dissipation both damps and refrigerates the target cavity, allowing for long-lived qubit coherence even when the bath temperature is high. I will discuss how to use this approach in a variety of applications, including both operating large-scale quantum processors and studies of foundational quantum mechanics.
Host: Maxim Vavilov
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