Reception starting at 4:30pm (La Sells foyer)

Lecture starting at 5:30pm.

Nature's most fascinating phenomena occur far from equilibrium - from the swirling storms of Jupiter to the dance of quasiparticles in quantum systems. While textbooks might portray physics through the lens of equilibrium, our Universe is dynamic, perpetually seeking but never reaching balance. This lecture will discuss both fundamentals of nonequilibrium dynamics in quantum matter and applications of these in quantum devices. Advances in theoretical understanding and computational approaches to correlated states in quantum matter, paired with leading experiments in ultrafast nonlinear optical spectroscopy now allow us to reveal emergent states created by strongly non-equilibrium external drives. Following a pedagogical introduction to these advances, this lecture will present the latest results in accessing observables in nonequilibrium interactions with coupled dynamics of spins, nuclei, and light.

Biography: Narang is a Professor of Physical Sciences and Howard Reiss Chair at UCLA where she leads efforts at the intersection of theoretical condensed matter physics, computational science, quantum photonics, and quantum information science. Narang’s awards include the Mildred Dresselhaus Prize, the IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Computational Physics, the Bessel Prize from the Humboldt Foundation, a Max Planck Sabbatical Award, an NSF CAREER Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Moore Inventor Fellow, a Top Innovator by MIT Tech Review, one of Forbes 30 Under 30. Narang is the founder and CTO of Aliro, a quantum network platform company. She currently serves as a U.S. Science Envoy approved by the Secretary of State to identify opportunities for science and technology cooperation.