In earlier days, our lab studied problems in hard condensed matter physics, focusing on challenges in the core fields of magnetism and superconductivity, with a particular emphasis on the behavior of low-dimensional and nanostructured systems.  Among the key results from this work were a series of experiments that elucidated the nature of the excitation spectrum in a variety of so-called quantum magnets, including the first observations of long-predicted magnetic field-induced incommensurabilities in the spin S = ½ antiferromagnetic chain, and pioneering studies of coupled quantum dimer systems.  We also played a leading role in the first observation of the so-called π-phase state in superconductor-ferromagnet multilayers, a phenomenon that has been subsequently extensively studied as a possible route to quantum computation.

1. Extended quantum critical phase in a magnetized spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic chain, B. Stone, D. H. Reich, C. Broholm, K. Lefmann, C. Rischel, C. P. Landee, and M. M. Turnbull, Phys. Rev. Lett.91, 037205 (2003).
2. Triplet waves in a quantum spin liquid, G. Y. Xu, C. Broholm, D. H. Reich, and M. A.  Adams, Rev. Lett.84, 4465-4468 (2000).
3. Direct observation of field-induced incommensurate fluctuations in a one-dimensional S=1/2 antiferromagnet, D. C. Dender, P. R. Hammar, D. H. Reich, C. Broholm, and G. Aeppli, Rev. Lett.79,1750-1753 (1997).
4. Oscillatory superconducting transition-temperature in Nb/Gd multilayers, J. S. Jiang, D. Davidovic, D. H. Reich, and C. L. Chien, Rev. Lett.74, 314-317 (1995).