Shedding nano-light on quantum materials

Optical spectroscopies have contributed immensely to the present understanding of metals, semiconductors and superconductors. Unfortunately, optics encounters problems when it comes to “seeing” effects at length scales below the diffraction limit of light and also with probing physics outside of the light cone. Both capabilities are highly desirable for the exploration of new quantum materials. Over the last decade or so, our group has deployed scanning-probe optical methods that have extended tera-Hertz, infrared and optical experiments to the nano-scale and beyond the light cone. In this talk, I will discuss recent examples of the progress we have made in understanding the electronic phenomena in atomically layered van der Waals materials, all empowered by deeply subdiffractional nano-light.

Speaker: Dmitri Basov, Columbia University