Shining New Light on Quantum Matter

Quantum systems host spectacular excited-state effects, but many of these phenomena remain challenging to control and, consequently, technologically under-explored. Our work, therefore, focuses on how quantum systems behave, particularly away from equilibrium, and how we can harness these effects. This talk will present an introduction to theoretical and computational approaches to describe excited-states in quantum matter, and predicting emergent states created by strongly non-equilibrium external drives. Understanding the role of such nonequilibrium light-matter interactions in the regime of correlated electronic systems is of paramount importance to fields of study across condensed matter physics, quantum optics, and quantum chemistry. I will give an outlook on driving correlated quantum matter to control the coupled electronic and lattice degrees-of-freedom, and connect these recent predictions with ultrafast experiments underway.