The fields of condensed matter and atomic, molecular, and optical physics now reside in a fascinating era where the design and control of large-scale "synthetic quantum matter" is becoming a reality. Designer platforms synthesized from cold atoms, ions, defects in solids, circuit QED architectures, and solid-state heterostructures (among others) illuminate pathways to many-body quantum phenomena that, in many cases, are exceedingly difficult to find intrinsically in isolated materials. Synthetic quantum matter reveals new facets of quantum many-body physics in controlled laboratory settings and also advances technological applications in the field of quantum information science.

The program aims to advance design and characterization of synthetic quantum matter by leveraging strategies employed successfully within various subdisciplines. On a more fundamental level, the program further aims at finding efficient ways to utilize quantum information tools to characterize highly entangled quantum states and their dynamical evolution far from equilibrium. It should additionally identify routes by which complex entanglement structures and their dynamical evolution can be probed and possibly protected from decoherence in experiments. The interdisciplinary nature of the program will bring together theoretical and experimental researchers from a broad range of fields to attack these questions.

There will be an associated conference, to be held November 14-18, 2016.