New Chiral Quantum States William P. Halperin, Northwestern University, DMR 1 103625

1. New Chiral Quantum StatesWilliam P. Halperin, Northwestern University, DMR 1103625 Quantum states with special symmetries are a central component for proposed applications to quantum computation. Chirality, or twist, is one of these characteristics. Consequently it is of substantial importance to discover new states of matter with chirality. Recent work at Northwestern University, supported by the National Science Foundation, has shown that quenched disorder imposed upon superfluid 3He by highly porous silica aerogel, will stabilize new chiral quantum states if the aerogel is anisotropic. The new superfluids are created by engineering the growth of the aerogel with a globally well-defined uniaxial anisotropy. The aerogel growth and characterization and superfluid experiments are performed at Northwestern University. Silica aerogel partially extracted from a glass tube in which it was grown. Highly porous aerogels have been grown at Northwestern by undergraduate students, Tom Lippman, Sam Blinstein, Kent Shirer, Andrew Fang, Mark Specht and Danny Ginzburg. The laboratory research by this team, an effort spread over a seven year period, has produced extremely homogeneous aerogel (> 99.98%) and the invention of important characterization tools based on optical birefringence and small angle Xray scattering techniques.

2. New Chiral Quantum StatesWilliam P. Halperin, Northwestern University, DMR 1103625 Education: Northwestern University undergraduate Tom Lippman and Northwestern graduate students, Johannes Pollanen, Hyongsoon Choi, and John Davis are collaborating on aerogel physics projects in the Halperin laboratory to explore the properties of anisotropic superfluids. In an interesting application, at right they are using aerogel for helium isotope separation. The method may have general utility to other elements. In the picture, left to right, are Hyoungsoon, Johannes, Tom and John. Outreach: Aerogel growth and characterization is a key component of many low temperature programs around the world (> 20). The Northwestern efforts are widely recognized and provided samples to others: Cornell University, University; Joseph Fourier in Grenoble, France; Lancaster University, UK; and the Tokyo Insititute of Technology, Japan.