IoP Topical Research Meeting: Topological states in strongly interacting light-matter systems

In recent years separate research communities of condensed matter physics, working on solid-state systems with a strong element of light-matter interaction, have made progress towards realising topological states. Semiconductor microcavities are semiconductor hetero-structures in which optical modes coherently mix with quantum well excitons forming polaritons. These interacting bosonic particles have been shown to undergo condensation, superfluidity, and rich hydrodynamics. Superconducting circuits are highly coherent cryogenic Josephson junction based quantum circuits, which support both spin and bosonic excitations. In both systems there is a demonstrated capability to create one and two dimensional lattices and therefore there is a promise for realising quantum simulation of interacting bosons and spins. The aim of this meeting is to combine these two approaches in creating theoretical proposals and experimental realisations of a workable high-coherence devices for quantum simulation of topological states and their future utilisation in quantum technology.