Los Alamos National Labs with logo 2021

Physics of Condensed Matter and Complex Systems

A tradition of international leadership in correlated electrons, nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and the foundations of quantum mechanics
  • Flow diagram showing adaptive design framework

    Machine learning accelerates the discovery of new materials

    Adaptive design framework READ MORE

  • Illustration of a spin texture wrapping around a sphere, a skyrmion

    Skyrmion: A spin texture that wraps around a sphere once

    At high-magnetic anisotropy it breaks into two half-skyrmions called meron and anti-meron.

  • Image depicting merons, anti-merons

    Merons, anti-merons

    Left: Merons chains (red) surrounding anti-merons (blue). Right: Corresponding topological charge.

  • Triangular lattice of skyrmion tubes

    Triangular lattice of skyrmion tubes under a current drive

    When a tube is broken it has a pair of magnetic monopole and anti-monopole at its ends.

  • Schematic spin configuration in a triangular skyrmion lattice

    Schematic spin configuration in a triangular skyrmion lattice

Contacts  

  • Deputy Group Leader
  • Eli Ben-Naim
  • Email
  • Administrator
  • Leslie L. Martinez
  • Email

Basic and applied research in condensed matter, statistical and quantum physics

The Physics of Condensed Matter and Complex Systems group (T-4) plays a vital role and provides theory, simulation, and computational capabilities impacting Los Alamos National Laboratory programs in

  • Materials physics
  • Nanotechnology
  • Information science and technology
  • Energy security
  • Weapons physics

Nurtures a vibrant postdoc, student, and visitor program, and is actively involved in outreach programs such as international conferences, advisory and editorial roles.

Capabilities
  • Computational material science
  • Foundations of quantum mechanics
  • Network analysis and smart grids
  • Monte Carlo methods
  • Molecular dynamics
  • Density functional theory
  • Extreme event statistics
  • Uncertainty quantifications and risk analysis
Projects

Development and application of theory and techniques for calculating the electronic properties of molecules, solids, and liquids, atomistic simulations of materials, the dynamics and kinetics of chemical reactions.

Equation of state and thermodynamics; mechanical properties’ reactive burn and flow, atomic structure and collision theory, catalysis, opacities and the physics of hot and warm dense matter.

  • Materials informatics
  • Non-rare earth magnets
  • Multiferroic materials
  • Engineered metamaterials
  • Infrastructure modeling and resilience analysis
  • Smart-grid science
  • Quantum algorithms
  • Spintronics and spin noise
  • Correlated electrons physics
  • Frustration in magnets
  • Artificial spin ice
  • Quantum metrology
  • Bose Einstein condensates
  • Polaron physics
Research
  • Condensed matter physics
  • Statistical physics
  • Quantum mechanics
  • Atomic, molecular, and optical physics
  • Materials physics
  • Nanoscience
  • Soft matter
  • Complex systems
  • Complex networks
  • Information science and algorithms
  • Macromolecules and biomolecules
  • Quantum computation
Awards and Appointments

Smoluchowsky Medal Wojciech Zurek
Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize Christopher Jarzynski
OPA Max Born Award Peter Milonni
DOE Lawrence Award Alan Bishop
Los Alamos Medal Wojciech Zurek (2014)

Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellows
  • Robert Albers
  • George Baker
  • Alexander Balatsky
  • Alan Bishop
  • Lev Boulaevski
  • Shiyi Chen
  • Donald Dubois
  • Peter Milonni
  • Harvey Rose
  • Avadh Saxena
  • David Sharp
  • Darryl Smith
  • Wojciech Zurek
American Physical Society Fellows
  • Robert Albers
  • George Baker
  • Alexander Balatsky
  • Cristian Batista
  • Diego Dalvit
  • Eli Ben-Naim
  • Gennady Berman
  • Alan Bishop
  • Lev Boulaevski
  • Shiyi Chen
  • Michael Chertkov
  • Donald Dubois
  • Gary Doolen
  • James Gubernatis
  • Turab Lookman
  • Charles Reichhardt
  • Harvey Rose
  • Avadh Saxena
  • David Sharp
  • Darryl Smith
  • Wojciech Zurek
Institute of Physics Fellows
  • Eli Ben-Naim
  • Alan Bishop
American Physical Society Outstanding Referees
  • Robert Albers
  • Alexander Balatsky
  • Eli Ben-Naim
  • Lev Boulaevski
  • Peter Milonni
R&D 100 Awards
  • Gary Doolen
  • Shiyi Chen
  • Brosl Hasslacher
Defense Programs Award of Excellence
  • David Sharp
  • Shiyi Chen
  • Timothy Wallstrom
Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellows Prize
  • Cristian Batista
  • Shiyi Chen
  • Bradley Plohr
  • Doyne Farmer
  • Turab Lookman
  • Darryl Smith
  • Stuart Trugman
  • Wojciech Zurek
Los Alamos National Laboratory Distinguished Performance Awards
  • Tanmoy Das
  • Adolfo del Campo
  • Gary Doolen
  • Matthew Hastings
  • Shuling Hou
  • Yasuyuki Kato
  • Cristiano Nisoli
  • Harvey Rose
  • Charles Reichhardt
  • Pinaki Sengupta
  • Rolando Somma
  • Eddy Timmermans
  • Jian-Xin Zhu
Leon Heller Postdoctoral Publication Prize in Theoretical Physics
  • Cristian Batista
  • Adolfo del Campo
  • Gerardo Ortiz
  • Sumitendra Mazumdar
  • Pinaki Sengupta
Los Alamos National Laboratory Postdoctoral Fellows Awards
  • Khaled A. Alhassanieh, Director Fellow
  • Alexander Balatsky, Oppenheimer Fellow
  • Christian Batista, Oppenheimer Fellow
  • Eli Ben-Naim, Director Fellow
  • Chih-Chun Chien, Oppenheimer Fellow
  • Shiyi Chen, Oppenheimer Fellow
  • Gia-Wei Chern, Oppenheimer Fellow
  • Michael Chertkov, Oppenheimer Fellow
  • Ivan Christov, Feynman Fellow
  • Lukasz Cincio, Oppenheimer Fellow
  • Diego Dalvit, Director Fellow
  • Sebastian Deffner, Director Fellow
  • Adolfo del Campo, Oppenheimer Fellow
  • David Egolf, Feynman Fellow
  • Doyne Farmer, Oppenheimer Fellow
  • Hasan Guclu, Director Fellow
  • Matthew Hastings, Feynman Fellow
  • Fuxiang Li, Director Fellow
  • Christofer Jarzynski, Director Fellow
  • Jason K. Johnson, Director Fellow
  • Seth Lloyd, Director Fellow
  • Hanna Makaruk, Director Fellow
  • Adilson Motter, Director Fellow
  • Cristiano Nisoli, Director Fellow
  • Gerardo Ortiz, Oppenheimer Fellow
  • Haitao Quan, Director Fellow
  • Erzsebet Ravasz, Director Fellow
  • Charles Reichhardt, Feynman Fellow
  • Jie Ren, Director Fellow
  • David Roberts, Feynman Fellow
  • Nikolai Sinitsyn, Director Fellow
  • Dmitry Solenov, Director Fellow
  • Jianmin Tao, Director Fellow
  • Razvan Theodorescu, Director Fellow
  • Zoltan Toroczkai, Director Fellow
  • Nicholas Tuffilaro, Director Fellow
  • Konstantin Turitsyn, Oppenheimer Fellow
  • Timothy Wallstrom, Director Fellow
  • Moran Wang, Oppenheimer Fellow
  • David Wolpert, Director Fellow
  • Dezhen Xue, Director Fellow
  • Lenka Zdeborova, Director Fellow
  • Jian-Xin Zhu, Director Fellow
  • Michael Zwolak, Feynman Fellow