Topic: optical control

Mete Atatüre examines semiconductor quantum dots as interfaces between photons, electron spins and ensembles of nuclear spins. Optical control can turn the nuclear environment from a source of noise into a useful quantum system. The seminar follows this progression through collective nuclear states toward a register capable of storing quantum information.

In this talk, I will describe my lab’s recent efforts to understand the design principles of the active, soft materials that drive cell morphogenesis. In particular, we are interested in how collections of myosin II motors and actin polymers generate, relax, sense and adapt to mechanical force. I will discuss how motor-filament interactions lead to either distributed extensile or contractile stresses as the mechanics of the system changes from fluid to solid. Using optical control of motors, we are now exploring how spatially structured stress can be used to drive local flows and motion. If ti