| Brief Bio of the Speaker | Dr. Li’s research focuses on developing algorithms for quantum many-body physics and exploring novel phenomena induced by many-body interactions. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in 2018. From 2018 to 2020, Dr. Li was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan, working with Emanuel Gull on simulating spectroscopies of strongly correlated quantum materials. He then joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 2020 to 2023, where he investigated the interplay between quantum many-body physics and topological physics. In 2023, Dr. Li joined Clemson University, where he focused on developing quantum machine learning algorithms. In July, 2025, he joined Northestern University, Shenyang as an associate professor. |
Abstract | As is well known, phonons play a crucial role in governing thermal and electrical transport in both insulators and metals. In this talk, I will present phonon-controlled phenomena in correlated quantum materials. First, I will discuss the interplay between nonlocal electron-phonon interactions and electron-electron correlations in cuprate superconductors. Our findings suggest that the nonlocal electron-phonon interaction suppresses magnetic excitation energy, thereby reducing the effective super-exchange interaction strength. Next, I will introduce the concept of interfacial forward phonon interactions, which can induce a triplet superconducting state under a strong magnetic field. This mechanism leads to the emergence of Majorana fermions at the edge of a 2D system. Finally, I will explore the phonon-controlled thermal Hall effect in the Kitaev quantum spin liquid α-RuCl₃. Experimental observations indicate that α-RuCl₃ exhibits a half-quantized thermal Hall effect, attributed to the topological band of Majorana fermions. I will demonstrate how phonons impact this effect, providing insights into the sample-dependent thermal Hall behavior observed in experiments. Reference [1] S. Li, L. H. Hu, R. X. Zhang, and S. Okamoto, Communications Physics 5, 235 (2023) [2] S. Li and S. Johnston, Phys. Rev. B 108, L201113 (2022) [3] S. Li and S. Okamoto, Phys. Rev. B 106, 024413 (2022) [4] S. Li, A. Nocera, U. Kumar, S. Johnston, Communications Physics 4, 217 (2021) [5] S. Li and S. Johnston, npj Quantum Materials 5, 40 (2020)
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