Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CondmatQTech (Creating and Stabilizing Quantum Resource Phases of Interacting Quantum Matter: The Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium Routes)
Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2025-10-31
Quantum technologies are expected to play a key role in Europe’s future competitiveness in computing, sensing, and secure communication. Their operation relies on fragile quantum resources—such as entanglement and coherent superposition—which are difficult to preserve in realistic many-particle systems. In interacting quantum systems, these resources typically degrade rapidly due to thermalization, posing a fundamental barrier to scalable and reliable quantum technologies.
The CondmatQTech project addressed this challenge by investigating how collective quantum behaviour can be controlled and stabilized rather than destroyed by interactions. The project focused on interacting quantum many-body systems and explored both equilibrium and non-equilibrium routes to generating and protecting quantum resources. A particular emphasis was placed on periodically driven (Floquet) quantum systems, where time-dependent control can give rise to novel and robust dynamical phases.
The overarching objective was to identify intrinsic physical mechanisms that suppress thermalization and enable long-lived quantum coherence without relying on active error-correction. By uncovering such mechanisms, the project contributes to the scientific foundations needed for next-generation quantum technologies and aligns with European strategic priorities in quantum science, digital technologies, and long-term technological sovereignty.
The CondmatQTech project addressed this challenge by investigating how collective quantum behaviour can be controlled and stabilized rather than destroyed by interactions. The project focused on interacting quantum many-body systems and explored both equilibrium and non-equilibrium routes to generating and protecting quantum resources. A particular emphasis was placed on periodically driven (Floquet) quantum systems, where time-dependent control can give rise to novel and robust dynamical phases.
The overarching objective was to identify intrinsic physical mechanisms that suppress thermalization and enable long-lived quantum coherence without relying on active error-correction. By uncovering such mechanisms, the project contributes to the scientific foundations needed for next-generation quantum technologies and aligns with European strategic priorities in quantum science, digital technologies, and long-term technological sovereignty.
The project combined analytical theory with large-scale numerical simulations to study interacting quantum systems under controlled Hamiltonian dynamics. While equilibrium approaches were explored conceptually, the main scientific progress was achieved through non-equilibrium strategies based on strong periodic driving.
The core achievement of the project is the identification of a robust phenomenon known as dynamical freezing, where suitably designed periodic drives generate emergent conservation laws in interacting quantum systems. These conservation laws are not present in the underlying microscopic models but arise dynamically due to the drive, strongly suppressing thermalization.
The project demonstrated that this mechanism:
persists in large interacting systems,
does not rely on disorder or fine-tuning,
stabilizes quantum coherence over extremely long timescales.
These results were consolidated into two publicly available scientific preprints and two more manuscripts under preparation and establish a coherent theoretical framework for non-equilibrium protection of quantum resources. Additional exploratory research directions were pursued, one of which has resulted in further manuscripts currently in preparation.
The core achievement of the project is the identification of a robust phenomenon known as dynamical freezing, where suitably designed periodic drives generate emergent conservation laws in interacting quantum systems. These conservation laws are not present in the underlying microscopic models but arise dynamically due to the drive, strongly suppressing thermalization.
The project demonstrated that this mechanism:
persists in large interacting systems,
does not rely on disorder or fine-tuning,
stabilizes quantum coherence over extremely long timescales.
These results were consolidated into two publicly available scientific preprints and two more manuscripts under preparation and establish a coherent theoretical framework for non-equilibrium protection of quantum resources. Additional exploratory research directions were pursued, one of which has resulted in further manuscripts currently in preparation.
Prior to this project, the dominant paradigm in quantum technologies assumed that strong interactions inevitably lead to thermalization, requiring complex error-correction strategies to preserve quantum information. CondmatQTech goes beyond this paradigm by demonstrating that strong interactions, when combined with appropriate non-equilibrium control, can instead protect quantum coherence.
The project establishes a new conceptual route to stabilizing quantum resources through intrinsic dynamical mechanisms, rather than external correction. This represents a significant advance in the theoretical understanding of non-equilibrium quantum matter and opens new directions for research at the interface of condensed-matter physics and quantum information science.
The results are broadly relevant to a range of experimental platforms, including cold atoms, superconducting circuits, trapped ions, and programmable quantum simulators. Further uptake will benefit from continued experimental exploration and integration into future quantum-technology research programmes, rather than immediate commercialisation or intellectual-property protection.
The project establishes a new conceptual route to stabilizing quantum resources through intrinsic dynamical mechanisms, rather than external correction. This represents a significant advance in the theoretical understanding of non-equilibrium quantum matter and opens new directions for research at the interface of condensed-matter physics and quantum information science.
The results are broadly relevant to a range of experimental platforms, including cold atoms, superconducting circuits, trapped ions, and programmable quantum simulators. Further uptake will benefit from continued experimental exploration and integration into future quantum-technology research programmes, rather than immediate commercialisation or intellectual-property protection.