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This course explores fundamental and emerging aspects of quantum systems in the strong light–matter coupling regime, with particular emphasis on polaritonic quasiparticles arising from the hybridization of photons and matter excitations. A central focus will be on exciton-polaritons, formed through the non-perturbative coupling between cavity photons and Coulomb-bound electron–hole pairs (excitons). 

The course will also examine recently discovered polaritonic platforms in which hybrid light–matter excitations arise from photon-mediated interactions beyond conventional excitonic physics, including systems where no bound excitons exist in the absence of the cavity field. Both continuous and lattice systems will be discussed, with emphasis on topological phenomena, non-equilibrium quantum-fluid behavior, collective effects, and phase transitions. Applications to quantum materials, photonic lattices, and cavity quantum electrodynamics will illustrate current research directions at the frontier of modern condensed-matter physics and quantum optics.

The goal of the course is to provide a comprehensive description of magnetism across length scales, from the microscopic physics of individual spins in solids to the collective behavior of magnetic materials described by continuous micro-magnetics. Starting from the quantum and atomic origins of magnetic moments, the course introduces exchange interactions, magnetic anisotropy, and spin dynamics at the single-spin level. It then develops the concepts of collective magnetism in localized and itinerant systems, including magnetic ordering, spin waves, and domain formation. Finally, the course presents the continuum description of magnetization dynamics and magnetic textures within the framework of micromagnetism, with applications to modern condensed matter physics and spintronics.

In this course we discuss a few examples of new phenomena that have emerged in electronic quantum matter in the past decades. These exotic quantum phenomena can either emerge intrinsically in new materials such as topological insulators, materials which own conducting channels at their edges/surfaces, ultimate superconductors made of single atomic layers or nano-wires.  New phases can alternatively emerge by interfacing different materials (such as superconductors with magnets) or by engineering-controlled hybrid nano-devices.

Quantum mechanics is now driving a technological revolution, enabling new paradigms for computing, communication, and sensing. This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the principles of quantum information science, from the fundamentals of qubits and entanglement to the implementation of quantum algorithms, quantum communication protocols, and strategies for protecting fragile quantum states.

 

The main goal of this course is to present the superconductivity – the most famous macroscopic quantum phenomenon – and related effects, applications, and materials. 

The aim is to provide a fundamental framework for appreciating the success of the quantum theory of solids in describing the transport coefficients of any solid subject to a temperature gradient and/or electric field. 

The solids in question range from semiconductors to superconductors passing through metals including those hosting strongly correlated or non-trivially topological electrons. The transport coefficients range from the most familiar (electrical conductivity) to most exotic (the Nernst effect or the thermal Hall effect). The hope is to show at the end of the course that while many mysteries have been solved, others persist, giving rise to a research area loosely called `quantum materials’, in which the focus is to understand what remains beyond this standard transport picture.

In micrometer-scale electrical conductors at low temperatures, electronic transport is no longer governed by classical mechanics, which describes electron scattering from lattice defects and determines Drude conductivity. Instead, a quantum mechanical approach is required, where conductance is defined by the transmission of electronic waves through the conductor.