By Jorge Vidal,
Special to Rice News
More than 80 scientists from around the world gathered at Rice University for the eQMA Workshop on Hidden Orders and Quantum Entanglement, part of the UNESCO 2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology celebration. Hosted by the Extreme Quantum Materials Alliance (eQMA) in collaboration with Rice’s Smalley-Curl Institute, the three-day event Oct. 6-8 featured lectures, discussions and collaborative exchanges among leading theorists and experimentalists in the field.
“Bridging quantum materials and quantum information science represents one of the most exciting frontiers in modern quantum physics,” said Yonglong Xie, assistant professor of physics and astronomy and one of the workshop organizers. “This workshop is exceptionally timely and highlights Rice’s commitment and leadership in advancing this emerging field.”
Exploring hidden orders and quantum entanglement
The workshop’s sessions explored how quantum fluctuations and entanglement underpin the emergence of exotic quantum phases that defy conventional symmetry-breaking descriptions. Participants examined systems such as quantum spin liquids, strange metals and fractional quantum Hall states, materials whose behavior is governed by strong correlations and hidden orders beyond the traditional Landau framework.
“The quantum era is well underway, bringing with it a rapid expansion in the scope and potential of quantum materials research,” said Qimiao Si, the Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Rice and director of the eQMA. “As part of the celebration of the 2025 International Year of the Quantum, we at eQMA are really pleased to host this workshop to bring together the communities of quantum materials and quantum information and advance both fields.”
Event speakers detailed the theoretical and experimental advances driving the study of exotic quantum phases, from the modeling of hidden orders to the detection of quantum entanglement in correlated systems. Lectures were delivered by leading physicists including Gabriel Aeppli of ETH Zürich, Kimberly Modic of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Matteo Mitrano of Harvard University, Michael Foss-Feig of Quantinuum, Ananda Roy of Rutgers University and Laura H. Greene of Florida State University. Together, they highlighted how quantum control, magnetic fluctuations and variational simulations are reshaping the understanding of strongly correlated matter.
Additional speakers included Rice’s Yaofeng Xie, Yuan Fang and Yucheng Guo; Allen Scheie of Los Alamos National Laboratory; Fereshte Ghahari of George Mason University; Matthew Yankowitz of the University of Washington; Haim Beidenkopf of the Weizmann Institute of Science; Shuolong Yang of the University of Chicago; Zhurun (Judy) Ji of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Hart Goldman of the University of Minnesota. Their talks spanned a wide range of topics, from entanglement witnesses and two-dimensional materials to correlated flat bands and fractionalized quantum states, reflecting the workshop’s multidisciplinary approach to exploring the frontiers of quantum matter.
Co-organizers of the workshop also included Rice’s Pengcheng Dai, Matt Foster, Guido Pagano and Ming Yi.
The workshop was co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter, Rice Advanced Materials Institute and Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship’s project on extreme quantum materials.
- Workshop lectures can be viewed at the link below:
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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNxl4krM4aueT6hKEsFlRfMEPpILWKssM
- Download photos:
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Group Featured Photo: https://rice.box.com/s/7vu8isa730otoqau3wgk6ztxif3hluv8
Inline Image Option 1: https://rice.box.com/s/7g7gtbr72ta07u6togpnrs9i0pzzjbi6
Inline Image Option 2: https://rice.box.com/s/8lyemiersxn564jp9hvfdjjhzhldszwb
(Photos by Jorge Vidal/Rice University)