IRG2: Non-equilibrium Quantum Metamaterials

ABOUT IRG2

IRG2 creates a new generation of quantum metamaterials: light-matter hybrid systems in which materials and electromagnetic (EM) environments are intentionally co-designed to make non-equilibrium behavior an intrinsic and controllable feature. IRG2's research thrusts are on Superconducting quantum metamaterials and Nonequilibrium topological phases in space and time. These thrusts aim to advance quantum metamaterials as a new paradigm for non-equilibrium materials design through the following goals:

1. Controlling superconducting stiffness, coherence and competing phases through superconductors with soft lattice and molecular degrees of freedom that renormalize pairing and screening.
2. Creating and stabilizing non-equilibrium topological phases through narrow-band topological systems with strong quantum geometry and correlations. 

PARTICIPANTS

Faculty Leads: James McIver, Andrew Millis

Primary Participants: Dmitri Basov, Aravind Devarakonda, James Hone, Colin Nuckolls, Abhay Pasupathy, Raquel Queiroz, James P. Schuck, Tatiana Webb (CCNY), Xiaoyang Zhu

Primary National Lab & International Participants: V. Bisogni (BNL), Y. Zhu (BNL)

Postdocs: Julian Ingham (Queiroz), Sanat Ghosh (Pasupathy)

Graduate Students: Daniel Ostrom (Pasupathy), Felix Sturm (McIver)

FOUNDATIONAL RESULTS

IRG2 is built on foundational results achieved recently by the team, including the synthesis of novel materials that exhibit desirable equilibrium properties; the demonstration of EM environment control in light-matter hybrids; and pioneering examples of non-equilibrium emergent properties. 

The following publications are key to the research being conducted by IRG2:

• I. Keren, T. A. Webb, S. Zhang, J. Xu, D. Sun, B. S. Y. Kim, D. Shin, S. S. Zhang, J. Zhang, G. Pereira, J. Yao, T. Okugawa, M. H. Michael, E. V. Boström, J. H. Edgar, S. Wolf, M. Julian, R. P. Prasankumar, K. Miyagawa, K. Kanoda, G. Gu, M. Cothrine, D. Mandrus, M. Buzzi, A. Cavalleri, C. R. Dean, D. M. Kennes, A. J. Millis, Q. Li, M. A. Sentef, A. Rubio, A. N. Pasupathy and D. N. Basov, "Cavity-altered superconductivity," Nature, 2026, vol. 650: 864-868. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-10062-6
• G. Kipp, H. M. Bretscher, B. Schulte, D. Herrmann, K. Kusyak, M. W. Day, S. Kesavan, T. Matsuyama, X. Li, S. M. Langner, J. Hagelstein, F. Sturm, A. M. Potts, C. J. Eckhardt, Y. Huang, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, A. Rubio, D. M. Kennes, M. A. Sentef, E. Baudin, G. Meier, M. H. Michael and J. W. McIver, "Cavity electrodynamics of van der Waals heterostructures," Nature Physics, 2025, vol. 21, 1926-1933. DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-03064-8
• J. W. McIver, B. Schulte, F.-U. Stein, T. Matsuyama, G. Jotzu, G. Meier and A. Cavalleri, "Light-induced anomalous Hall effect in graphene," Nature Physics, 2020, vol. 16, 38-41. DOI: 10.1038/s41567-019-0698-y
• Y. Wang, J. Choe, E. Anderson, W. Li, J. Ingham, E. A. Arsenault, Y. Li, X. Hu, T. Taniguchi, K. Watanabe, X. Roy, D. Basov, R. Queiroz, J. C. Hone, X. Xu and X. Y. Zhu, "Hidden states and dynamics of fractional fillings in twisted MoTe₂ bilayers," Nature, 2025, vol. 641, 1149-1155. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08954-8