UW QuantumX

MSE Seminar: TBD
2026-05-11 14:30 - 15:20 (America/Los_Angeles) | Washington
Event interval: Single day eventAccessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz, myank@uw.eduEvent Types: Lectures/Seminars
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Bio: TBD

Dr. John Martinis (UC Santa Barbara and Qolab): Prehistoric quantum bits: experiments testing the fundamental physics of superconducting quantum devices
2026-05-05 19:30 - 20:30 | Kane Hall 130, 4069 Spokane Ln NE, Seattle, Washington, 98105
Abstract

Quantum mechanics was developed to describe the physics of the small, for fundamental particles, atoms and molecules. But does it still work for macroscopic systems? My PhD thesis experiment in 1985 tested this idea, showing the macroscopic current and voltages in a 1 cm chip obey the quantum phenomena of tunneling and energy-level quantization, proving that a superconducting circuit can behave as a single `artificial atom.’ Over the last four decades, many physicists around the world have continued research on quantum devices. The field has evolved from fundamental tests into a high-stakes effort to build quantum bits and a quantum computer. At Google, our ‘quantum supremacy’ experiment was the culmination of this system-level optimization, proving that a processor could outpace classical supercomputers by maintaining high-fidelity control over a huge computational (Hilbert) space. Now, at my startup Qolab, we are leveraging 300mm semiconductor fabrication to achieve the extreme uniformity and yield necessary to build a useful general-purpose quantum computer.

Bio

John M. Martinis is an experimental physicist whose work laid much of the foundation for superconducting quantum circuits. Trained at the University of California, Berkeley, he carried out landmark experiments demonstrating macroscopic quantum tunneling and energy quantization in Josephson-junction circuits, showing that electrical circuits can exhibit fully quantum behavior. As a long-time research scientist at NIST and professor at UC Santa Barbara, he developed high-coherence superconducting qubits and precision measurement techniques that became standards in the field. He later led Google’s quantum hardware program, where his team built and operated large-scale superconducting processors and demonstrated quantum computational advantage. More recently, he co-founded Qolab, focusing on scalable, high-performance quantum hardware. His contributions to macroscopic quantum phenomena and superconducting quantum technology were recognized with the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Chemistry Seminar: Prof. Maksym Kovalenko
2026-05-05 15:30 - 16:30 | Washington
Event interval: Single day eventAccessibility Contact: chem59x@uw.eduEvent Types: Academics,Lectures/SeminarsLink: https://kovalenkolab.ethz.ch/people/prof_dr_maksym_kovalenko.html"TBD"Professor Maksym Kovalenko – Chemistry, ETH ZurichHost: David Ginger

IQuS Research Seminar: Michael Cervia (University of Washington)
2026-05-05 13:30 - 14:30 | Physics/Astronomy Building, C-421, 3910 15th Ave NE, Seattle, Washington, 98195-1560
Hybrid option available, register on event website

Ken Van Tilburg, NYU, Stanford
2026-05-04 16:00 - 17:00 | PAA A-102
PAA A-102Colloquiahttps://phys.washington.edu/events/2026-03-09/tba

P. C. Cross Endowed Lecture in Physical Chemistry: Maksym Kovalenko
2026-05-04 16:00 - 17:00 | Bagley Hall (BAG)
Event interval: Single day eventCampus location: Bagley Hall (BAG)Campus room: BAG 154Accessibility Contact: chem59x@uw.eduEvent Types: Lectures/SeminarsEvent sponsors: This lecture is supported by the Paul C. Cross Endowed Fund, dedicated to the memory of Professor Paul C. Cross by his family and many friends and colleagues in 2002.
Prof. Cross was a distinguished physical chemist who led the effort to elevate the UW Department of Chemistry to national prominence when he served as professor and chair from 1949 to 1961. Prof. Cross promoted departmental growth through the expansion of the graduate program, his emphasis on the acquisition and construction of revolutionary new instrumentation, and his encouragement of faculty to secure external federal funding to expand their research programs.Link: https://kovalenkolab.ethz.ch/research.html
P. C. Cross Endowed Lecture in Physical Chemistry
"Quantum light sources using colloidal perovskite quantum dots"Professor Maksym Kovalenko - Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH ZurichHost: David Ginger
Lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (LHP NCs) – the latest generation of colloidal quantum dots (QDs) – are intrinsically bright emitters without the need for epitaxial wide-bandgap shells. In recent years, LHP NCs have emerged as the most intensively studied QD material, challenging the field's foundational paradigms in nearly every respect. They are the first QDs to exhibit excitonic coherence on timescales comparable to their radiative lifetimes (at cryogenic temperatures), thus setting the stage for their use as sources of indistinguishable photons. Their giant oscillator strength effect enables extremely fast emission (lifetimes as short as 60 ps) even in relatively large NCs, while maintaining single-photon emission. Periodic ensembles of LHP NCs have further demonstrated collective, accelerated radiative decay – superfluorescence – a phenomenon previously unseen in colloidal systems. The excitonic fine structure of LHP NCs can be readily engineered through shape anisotropy. Furthermore, by simple near-field coupling to highly chiral plasmonic nanostructures, their otherwise linearly polarized emission becomes fully chiral, establishing LHP NCs as the first fully chiral colloidal single-photon emitters. LHP NCs are therefore attractive as scalable, chemically synthesized quantum dot materials for applications in quantum imaging, sensing, communication or even computing. The presentation will summarize the contributions of my interdisciplinary team and our international collaborators, whose names will be acknowledged in the presentation and accompanying notes.

: TBA
2026-05-04 16:00 | PAA A102
: TBA
PAA A102
Colloquia
https://phys.washington.edu/events/2026-05-04/tba-0

MSE Seminar: Chenhao Jin
2026-05-04 14:30 - 15:20 | Washington
Event interval: Single day eventAccessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz, myank@uw.eduEvent Types: Lectures/Seminars
Title: Probing emergent excitations in semiconducting moiré superlattices
Abstract: Semiconducting moiré superlattices recently emerged as an attractive platform for engineering new quantum phenomena. While a plethora of intriguing ground states are reported, their dynamics and excitations remain largely unexplored, which govern their responses to intrinsic fluctuations and external driving. In this talk, I will discuss our recent efforts to investigate excitations in semiconducting moiré superlattices. Using an ultrafast wide-field imaging technique, we record their complete space-time evolution, such as space-and-time-resolved transport. This allows us to simultaneously capture and separate multiple collective excitations, identify their nature and distinguish them from single-particle ones, which have been challenging from steady-state measurements. These emergent excitations govern dynamic responses of the system and play a central role in phase stability and transition. Our results highlight new insights encoded in collective excitations and open avenues for studying and engineering correlated quantum systems through nonequilibrium approaches.
Bio: Dr. Chenhao Jin is an assistant professor of Physics at UC Santa Barbara. He received a B.S. in Physics from Peking university and PhD in Physics from UC Berkeley. He was a Kavli fellow at Cornell University between before moving to UC Santa Barbara in 2021. Dr. Jin’s research focuses on developing new optical spectroscopy and imaging techniques to "watch" quantum phenomena in space and time; and has made seminal contributions to optical studies of van der Waals materials and moiré superlattices. Dr. Jin has received multiple awards, including AFOSR YIP award, NSF CAREER award, Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists, and Sloan Research Fellowship.

QASMTrans: QASM Compilation Framework with Pulse Generation (Audience: Undergraduates)
2026-05-01 16:30 - 17:30 | Washington

Andrew Houck (Princeton), C2QA Quantum Thursdays: Millisecond lifetimes and coherence times in 2D transmon qubits
2026-04-30 12:00 - 13:00 | Washington

IQuS Research Semimar: Charles Cao (Virginia Tech)
2026-04-28 13:30 - 14:30 | Physics/Astronomy Building, C-421, 3910 15th Ave NE, Seattle, Washington, 98195-1560
Hybrid option available, register on event website.

Physics Seminar: Chris Monroe (Duke University)
2026-04-27 16:00 | PAA A102
PAA A102Colloquiahttps://phys.washington.edu/events/2026-04-27/tba

Physics Seminar: Allan Macdonald (University of Texas at Austin)
2026-04-20 16:00 | PAA A102
PAA A102Colloquiahttps://phys.washington.edu/events/2026-04-20/tba

MSE Seminar: Timothy Hebrink
2026-04-20 14:30 - 15:20 | Washington
Event interval: Single day eventAccessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz, myank@uw.eduEvent Types: Lectures/Seminars
Title: Light and Energy Management Films for Improving the Energy Efficiency of Buildings, Vehicles, and Electronics.
Abstract: Light and energy management play essential roles in modern life, influencing electronic displays, energy-efficient buildings and vehicles, and renewable energy systems. At 3M, significant advancements in optical film technologies-such as multilayer optical films and micro-structured films-have enabled new approaches to control, direct, and utilize light more effectively. This talk will introduce the fundamental science underlying these optical film technologies and highlight their applications, including brightness enhancement in LCD displays, solar heat rejection in architectural and automotive glazing, and radiative cooling solutions for buildings and vehicles. These light and energy management films improve the energy efficiency of buildings, vehicles, and electronic applications, and thus reduce electricity consumption or improve human comfort and safety. In alignment with 3M’s commitment to “Science Applied to Life,” the presentation will demonstrate how scientific innovation translates into practical solutions with meaningful impact across industries and everyday experiences.
Bio: Tim Hebrink, Corporate Scientist in 3M Corporate Research Process Lab, graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BS in Chemical Engineering, and has 41 years of polymer product development experience at 3M Company. His expertise, and innovations, in polymer properties and polymer processing has earned him 85 issued US patents and >60 pending patent applications covering novel optical polymers, optical film designs, polymer films with improved properties, and novel applications of polymer films. Polymer films produced by his inventions have enabled significant 3M polymeric film sales resulting in 6 Golden Step Awards for individual products achieving sales greater than $20million/year. While at 3M Company, Tim’s technical contributions to 3M have been recognized with 11 Circle of Technical Excellence awards. He has collaborated with many Universities and National Laboratories resulting in 12 research publications including a book chapter on Durable Polymer Films. He is passionate about energy efficiency and sustainability.

CSE Distinguished Lecture Series: Mike Dodds
2026-04-16 15:30 - 16:30 | Gates Center (CSE2), G20 | Amazon Auditorium
Event interval: Single day eventCampus room: Gates Center (CSE2), G20 | Amazon AuditoriumAccessibility Contact: dso@uw.eduEvent Types: Lectures/SeminarsEvent sponsors: Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering
www.cs.washington.eduLink: https://www.cs.washington.edu/events/colloquia/details?id=3381AbstractAbstract is forthcoming.BioMike Dodds joined Galois in 2017 as a Principal Scientist. He specializes in applying formal methods to systems engineering problems in areas such as cryptography, distributed protocols, cyber-physical systems, and hardware semantics. Much of Mike’s work has focused on building tools that can be used by non-expert developers as part of their regular engineering workflow.Mike has led a range of projects at Galois, including our work on CN, a unified testing and verification tool for C code; Daedalus, a safe parsing language developed under the DARPA SafeDocs project; c2rust, a transpiler used by several popular Rust crates; and several verified cryptography projects using SAW and Cryptol, including a long-running collaboration with Amazon Web Services on core components of their AWS-LibCrypto library.Mike received his PhD from the University of York, UK, in 2008, under the supervision of Dr. Detlef Plump. He then spent four years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge, working with Dr. Matthew Parkinson and Prof. Peter Sewell. He returned to the University of York as a lecturer (in US terms, an associate professor) from 2012 to 2017, before joining Galois.This lecture will be streamed live and recorded.

Chemistry Seminar: Prof. Andrew M. Rappe
2026-04-15 11:30 - 12:30 | Chemistry Building (CHB)
Event interval: Single day eventCampus location: Chemistry Building (CHB)Campus room: CHB 102Accessibility Contact: gingerrc@uw.eduEvent Types: Academics,Lectures/Seminars"Hybrid Perovskites as a novel platform for optoelectronics"Professor Andrew M. Rappe – Department of Chemistry, University of PennsylvaniaHost: David GingerThe perovskite crystal structure hosts a wealth of intriguing properties, and the renaissance of interest in halide (and hybrid organic-inorganic) perovskites (HOIPs) has further broadened the palette of exciting physical phenomena. Breakthroughs in HOIP synthesis, characterization, and solar cell design have led to remarkable increases in reported photovoltaic efficiency. However, the observed long carrier lifetime and PV performance have eluded comprehensive physical justification. The hybrid perovskites serve as an enigmatic crossroads of physics. Concepts from crystalline band theory, molecular physics, liquids, and phase transitions have been applied with some success, but the observations of HOIPs make it clear that none of these conceptual frameworks completely fits. In this talk, recent theoretical progress in understanding HOIPs will be reviewed and integrated with experimental findings. The large amplitude motions of HOIPs will be highlighted, including ionic diffusion, anharmonic phonons, and dynamic incipient order on various length and time scales. The intricate relationships between correlated structural fluctuations, polar order, and excited charge carrier dynamics will also be discussed, along with implications for materials design of next-generation optoelectronic materials design.

: TBA
2026-04-13 16:00 | PAA A102
: TBA
PAA A102
Colloquia
https://phys.washington.edu/events/2026-04-13/tba

MSE Seminar: Jun Xiao
2026-04-13 14:30 - 15:30 | Washington
Event interval: Single day eventAccessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz, myank@uw.eduEvent Types: Lectures/Seminars
Title: Jun Xiao, University of Wisconsin-Madison will present "Strong THz electrodynamics and high-performance THz optoelectronics based on emergent 2D materials."
Abstract: Terahertz (THz) sensing and imaging are critical in both quantum information technology and biomedical sensing because THz frequencies (0.1-10 THz) resonate with key low-energy information carriers (e.g., coherent phonons and magnons) in quantum materials and molecular vibrations in biological matter (e.g., skin tumor tissues and blood cells). In addition, materials with THz response are essential building blocks for the next generation telecommunication technology. However, the widespread use of THz technology has long been hindered by a lack of materials with strong THz light-matter interactions for high-performance devices.
In this talk, I will present our recent advances in two-dimensional (2D) quantum materials to overcome these limitations by leveraging their unique topological properties and exploiting the resulting strong light-matter interactions. One remarkable example is the recently discovered nonlinear Hall effect (NHE) in 2D topological semimetals, mediated by their diverging quantum geometrical properties . In the first part of the talk, I will report how we use this new notion to demonstrate the long-sought THz sensing metrics . Specifically, we have experimentally studied the unique interplay among the quantum geometrical properties, gate-tunable electron correlation and THz electrodynamics in atomically thin topological semimetals TaIrTe4. Building upon the nonlinear Hall effect as a new mechanism for THz rectification, we have observed a large zero-bias responsivity (~ 0.3 A/W), ultralow NEP (~ pW/Hz1/2), broadband THz response (0.1 to 10 THz) and ultrafast intrinsic speed (~ ps) at room temperature. The device performance can be further enhanced by introducing gate-tunable electron correlations. Thanks to the new topological physics and strong electron correlation, the demonstrated device metrics show tremendous advantages over the attainable THz detectors based on other 2D materials and conventional technology. Beyond light probing, the rich interplay physics in this platform also allows using light to induce more exotic order. If time permits, I may present our ongoing efforts along this way.Detecting terahertz waves is only one half of the equation, in the second half of the talk, I will introduce our report of colossal THz emission from a van der Waals (vdW) ferroelectric semiconductor NbOI2 . Using THz emission spectroscopy, we observe a THz generation efficiency that is an order of magnitude higher than that of ZnTe. We uncover the underlying generation mechanisms tied to its substantial ferroelectric polarization by investigating the dependence of THz emission on excitation wavelength, incident polarization and fluence. Leveraging the long-lived coherent ferron-mediated THz emission, we further demonstrate the ultrafast coherent amplification and annihilation of the THz emission and associated coherent ferron oscillations by using an ultrafast double-pump scheme.
Bio: Dr. Xiao is an assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from August 2021. Prior to joining Madison, Dr. Jun Xiao worked as a postdoctoral scholar with Prof. Aaron Lindenberg and Prof. Tony Heinz at Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. He earned his Ph.D. in applied science and technology from UC Berkeley (2018) under Prof. Xiang Zhang’s supervision. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from Nanjing University (2012). His research experience and interests focus on structure-property relationships and light-matter interactions in 2D quantum materials for robust quantum computing, efficient energy conservation and high-performance THz optoelectronics. His findings are published in many high-impact journals including Nature, Science, Nature Physics, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Electronics and Physical Review Letters. He is the recipient of the 2023 NSF CAREER Award.

Chemistry Seminar: Prof. Colin Heyes
2026-04-08 11:30 - 12:30 | Chemistry Building (CHB)
Event interval: Single day eventCampus location: Chemistry Building (CHB)Campus room: CHB 102Accessibility Contact: chem59x@uw.eduEvent Types: Academics,Lectures/SeminarsLink: https://cheyes.hosted.uark.edu/"TBD"Professor Colin Heyes – Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of ArkansasHost: Tristan Shi

IQuS Research Seminar: Mark Rudner (University of Washington)
2026-04-07 13:30 - 14:30 | PAB C421, 3910 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA, 98195

MSE Seminar: Fang Liu
2026-04-06 14:30 - 15:30 | Washington
Event interval: Single day eventAccessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz, myank@uw.eduEvent Types: Lectures/Seminars
Title: Fang Liu, Michigan Technological University, will present "Large scale production of artificial two-dimensional superlattices."
Abstract: Two-dimensional (2D) materials and their engineered lattices offer exciting opportunities for next-generation electronic, optoelectronic, and electrochemical devices. Yet, studies of high-quality heterostructures have been largely constrained to microscopic flakes. Here, we present scalable, controllable top-down methods that transform a wide range of van der Waals (vdW) single crystals into twisted moiré superlattices with high yield, exceptional uniformity, and macroscopic dimensions from millimeters to centimeters. Access to such large-area structures has enabled new discoveries, including ultrafast thermal exchange at bilayer interfaces, rapid photoinduced tuning of moiré patterns, and markedly reduced Debye temperatures in deformed monolayers compared to their isolated counterparts. Furthermore, by patterning 1D features—such as nanoribbon arrays and nanowrinkles—on 2D monolayers, we uncover unique electronic and thermodynamic behaviors absent in pristine layers. These advances in large-scale 2D artificial structures pave the way toward mass production and practical deployment of twistronic devices.
Bio: Dr. Fang Liu is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University. She started her group in 2020. Her research focuses on the light-induced dynamics of solid low dimensional materials and construction of low dimensional artificial structures. Prior to her current position, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Prof. Xiaoyang Zhu at Columbia University. Prior to working in Columbia, she worked under the direction of Prof. Marsha I Lester at University of Pennsylvania. She received her Ph.D. in 2015 and worked as a postdoc in the same group in 2016. She received her B.S. in chemistry at Peking University in 2010.

Towards reconfigurable and deterministic twistronic 2D materials
2026-04-02 12:30 - 13:30 | Washington
Speaker: Yuan Cao, University of California at Berkeley
Two-dimensional materials (2DM) and their heterostructures offer tunable electrical and optical properties, primarily modifiable through electrostatic gating and twisting. While electrostatic gating is a well-established method for manipulating 2DM, achieving real-time control over interfacial properties remains a frontier in exploring 2DM physics and advanced quantum device technology. Current methods, often reliant on scanning microscopes, are limited in their application scope, lacking the accessibility and scalability of electrostatic gating at the device level. In the first half of this seminar, I will introduce an on-chip platform for 2DM with in situ adjustable interfacial properties, employing a microelectromechanical system (MEMS). This platform comprises compact, precise, and versatile devices capable of voltage-controlled manipulation of 2DM, including approaching, twisting, and pressurizing actions. We demonstrate this technology by creating synthetic topological singularities in the nonlinear optical susceptibility of twisted hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN).In the second half of this seminar, I will talk about our recent progress in observing symmetry-forbidden second-harmonic generation in almost any 2D crystals, which is extremely useful for deterministic twistronics. Optical spectroscopy based on second-order nonlinearity is a critical technique for characterizing two-dimensional (2D) crystals, and it also finds numerous applications in bioimaging and quantum optics. It has been generally believed that second-harmonic generation (SHG) in crystals with inversion centers (centrosymmetric crystals), such as graphene and other bilayer 2D crystals, is negligible without externally breaking the symmetry via strong surface effects. However, with a new ultra-sensitive detection technique, we could circumvent the symmetry-imposed constraint and observe robust SHG in pristine centrosymmetric crystals, even without any symmetry-breaking field. With the exceptional sensitivity, we directly observe polarization-resolved SHG in bilayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), bilayer WSe2, and remarkably, Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene, allowing us to unambiguously identify the crystallographic orientation in all these crystals via SHG. We also demonstrate that the new technique can be used to non-invasively detect uniaxial strain and geometric phase in these centrosymmetric crystals.

Chemistry Seminar: Wei Min
2026-03-31 15:30 - 16:30 | Bagley Hall (BAG)
Event interval: Single day eventAccessibility Contact: chem59x@uw.eduEvent Types: Academics,Lectures/SeminarsLink: https://www.chem.columbia.edu/content/wei-min"TBD"Professor Wei Min – Department of Chemistry, Columbia UniversityHosts: Daniel Chiu, Joshua Vaughan, Dan Fu, Bo Zhang

Alioscia Hamma (University of Naples Federico II): Why is Magic Important (in Holography)
2026-03-31 13:30 - 14:30 | PAB C421, 3910 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA, 98195
In recent years, the notion of magic in quantum physics – originally confined to more esoteric quantum information processing subfields – has attracted the attention of the community of quantum many-body physics, quantum chaos and complexity, high-energy physics, AdS-CFT and the foundations of quantum mechanics. In this talk, I will show why and how quantum magic matters to holography, how it describes gravitational back-reaction, and set up a program of entanglement-magic duality.

Chemistry Seminar: Wei Min
2026-03-30 15:30 - 16:30 | Bagley Hall (BAG)
Event interval: Single day eventCampus location: Bagley Hall (BAG)Campus room: BAG 260Accessibility Contact: chem59x@uw.eduEvent Types: Academics,Lectures/SeminarsLink: https://www.chem.columbia.edu/content/wei-min
"Lighting up chemical bonds for biomedicine"Professor Wei Min – Department of Chemistry, Columbia UniversityHosts: Daniel Chiu, Joshua Vaughan, Dan Fu, Bo Zhang
Innovations in imaging have revolutionized life science and medicine. Among various imaging modalities, vibrational imaging has emerged as a major technology, by visualizing the fundamental chemical bonds inside living cells and tissues with high sensitivity, speed, specificity and resolution. In this talk I will first introduce recent advances in theoretical understanding and technical innovations of vibrational imaging. In particular, I will discuss stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy, which can amplify the otherwise feeble Raman scattering signal by up to 100 million times. Then I will highlight new research areas and applications, including (1) single-molecule chemical spectroscopy, (2) single-particle nanomedicine and nanoplastics, (3) super-resolution chemical nanoscopy, (4) super-multiplexed imaging for brain mapping, and (5) vibrational spatial omics.
Wei Min received his B.S. from Peking University in 2003 and Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2008 studying single-molecule biophysics with Prof. Sunney Xie. After continuing his postdoctoral work in Xie group, Dr. Min joined the faculty at Columbia University in 2010, and was promoted to Full Professor there in 2017. Dr. Min's contribution has been recognized by a number of honors, including Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award from SPIE (2023), Raman Award for the Most Innovative Technological Development (2022), Craver Award of Vibrational Spectroscopy (2022), Scientific Achievement Award from Royal Microscopical Society (2021), Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award (2019), Analyst Emerging Investigator Lectureship (2018), Coblentz Award of Molecular Spectroscopy (2017), the ACS Early Career Award in Experimental Physical Chemistry (2017), Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2015), Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2013), and NIH Director's New Innovator Award (2012).

MSE Seminar: Yun Hang Hu
2026-03-30 14:30 - 15:30 | Washington
Event interval: Single day eventAccessibility Contact: Matthew Yankowitz, myank@uw.eduEvent Types: Lectures/SeminarsTitle: TBDAbstract: TBDBio: TBD

Chemistry Seminar: Hemamala Karunadasa
2026-03-17 15:30 - 16:30 | Bagley Hall (BAG)
Event interval: Single day eventCampus location: Bagley Hall (BAG)Campus room: BAG 260Accessibility Contact: chem59x@uw.eduEvent Types: Academics,Lectures/SeminarsLink: https://chemistry.stanford.edu/people/hemamala-karunadasa"TBD"Professor Hemamala Karunadasa – Department of Chemistry, Stanford UniversityHost: Douglas Reed

George H. Cady Endowed Lecture in Inorganic Chemistry: Hemamala Karunadasa
2026-03-16 16:00 - 17:00 | Johnson Hall (JHN)
Event interval: Single day eventAccessibility Contact: chem59x@uw.edu
Event Types: Academics,Lectures/Seminars
Event sponsors: The George H. Cady Endowed Lectureship in Chemistry was established in memory of Prof. Cady by his family and many friends and colleagues in 1994. George H. Cady earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1930 under the direction of Joel H. Hildebrand. Cady held positions at the University of South Dakota, M.I.T., U.S. Rubber Company, and Pittsburgh Plate Glass before joining the UW as assistant professor in 1938. He worked on the Manhattan Project (1942-43), chaired the Department of Chemistry (1961-65), and became professor emeritus in 1972. Prof. Cady was a distinguished inorganic chemist who, among many honors, shared the first Prix Moisson, a prestigious prize named after the father of fluorine chemistry.
Link: https://chemistry.stanford.edu/people/hemamala-karunadasa
George H. Cady Endowed Lecture in Inorganic Chemistry“TBD”Professor Hemamala Karunadasa – Department of Chemistry, Stanford University
Host: Douglas Reed

Bo Peng (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory), QISE Seminar: When Quantum Systems Remember: Fractional Open-System Dynamics via Random Time
2026-03-13 13:30 - 14:30 | Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Room 037, 185 W Stevens Wy NE, Seattke, Washington, 98185
Abstract: Real quantum systems are never perfectly isolated: coupling to an environment causes relaxation and decoherence. The standard “memoryless” (Markovian) description—Lindblad dynamics—often predicts simple exponential decay. Yet in many physical settings, environmental correlations persist, producing memory effects and non-exponential relaxation. The key question is not whether history matters, but how memory decays in time. In this talk, I will introduce a fractional-calculus framework that organizes unitary dynamics, Markovian master equations, and long-memory non-Markovian behavior within a single hierarchy. The central idea is “selective memory”: long-time behavior is often governed by a small subset of slowly decaying correlations rather than the full microscopic history. Technically, fractional dynamics can be understood as standard Lindblad evolution running under a randomized clock (Bochner–Phillips subordination), which preserves physical consistency (complete positivity) while generating algebraic long-time tails. I will illustrate how memory alters the shape of relaxation—not just the decay rate—using simple qubit examples and published benchmarks, and I will briefly discuss how the same structure would enable scalable simulation without explicit time-history storage.

Bio: Bo Peng is a computational scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in the Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate. His research operates at the intersection of many-body electronic structure theory, Green’s-function approaches to spectroscopy and excited states, quantum algorithms for chemistry and materials, and advanced computing/HPC for large-scale simulation. He develops both theoretical frameworks and production-quality computational tools, with contributions ranging from coupled-cluster/downfolding ideas to open quantum dynamics models that incorporate environmental memory. More broadly, his work aims to connect accurate microscopic theory with scalable computation and emerging quantum hardware, enabling predictive simulations of complex molecular and condensed-phase systems. He is also dedicated to mentoring and collaborates widely across national laboratories and academia.

T Serkan Kasirga (Bilkent University): Optoelectronics and phase transitions of atomically thin materials via proximity engineering nbsp
2026-03-12 12:30 - 13:30 | PAT C520
Speaker: T Serkan Kasirga, Bilkent University
Unlike three-dimensional materials, screening of the interaction across quasiparticles in atomically thin materials can significantly alter their electronic and phononic properties. Earlier studies have demonstrated that dielectric screening can modify material parameters, including electronic mobility, conductivity, Raman modes, Seebeck coefficient, and photoluminescence, in semiconducting two-dimensional (2D) materials. In this talk, I will discuss our efforts on finding novel two-dimensional materials with phase transitions via interlayer space modification and how screening modification via substrate engineering can be used in conjunction with scanning photocurrent microscopy to investigate the fundamental properties of 2D materials, such as photoresponse mechanisms. Moreover, I will illustrate how metals can be used to achieve screening, despite the odds, at the ultimate proximity to control the excitonic light emission from semiconducting 2D materials. Ultimately, I will attempt to demonstrate how screening effects can be leveraged to enhance various electronic and optical properties of two-dimensional materials.
