Speaker
Description
Mesoscale patterns are well-known in ferromagnets, ferroelectrics, superconductors, monomolecular films or block copolymers, where they reflect spatial variations of a pertinent order parameter at length scales and time scales that may be described classically. In the past thirty years increasing evidence has suggested the presence of mesoscale patterns near zero-temperature phase transitions, also known as quantum phase transitions. In recent years, the exploration of mesoscale textures under carefully controlled conditions near quantum phase transitions has entered a new phase, show-casing access to new phenomena such as emergent collective excitations reflecting Landau quantization, mesoscale quantum criticality, as well as dynamical forms of order when driven periodically. Neutron scattering represents an exceptionally powerful probe, uniquely suitable for the identification and exploration of the properties of mesoscale quantum textures.
