【Date and Time】15-June-2026 2pm

【Venue】Room 526

【Host】 Panagiotis Kotetes (BAQIS)

【Title】Tailoring Quantum Matter: Controlling Phases in and out of Equilibrium

【Speaker】

Mario Cuoco is a Senior Researcher and Deputy Director at CNR-SPIN (Italy). His research activity focuses on the modeling and computation of electronic, magnetic, transport and spectroscopic properties of correlated electron systems, topological phases, unconventional superconductivity, and superconducting magneto-electric effects. He is an awardee of a Marie-Curie Research Fellowship at CNRS Grenoble and a leader of various research projects. Coordinator of the FP7 project MAMA-“Multifunctional Advanced MAterials and nanoscale phenomena”. Task leader for “Fundamental Understanding” within the Cost-Action TO-BE “Towards Oxide Based Electronics”. Supervisor of the IEF-Marie Curie UFOX “Unveiling functional properties of hybrid oxides”. He has contributed to several EU and national projects, e.g., CNQT-FET Open for curved topological materials, Quantera QUANTOX “QUANtum Technologies with 2D-Oxides”, and TOPSPIN PRIN projects. He has been WP leader in the SUPERGATE “Gate Tuneable Superconducting Quantum Electronics” FET-Open project as well as in the role of PI for SPIN in the National Quantum Science and Technology Institute PNRR project.

【Abstract】In this talk, I will first shortly introduce the CNR-SPIN institute, and outline its mission to advance experimental and theoretical research on superconductors and innovative functional materials. SPIN aims to elucidate the microscopic mechanisms and fundamental properties of these materials to develop micro- and nano-scale devices for applications in electronics, sensing, quantum technologies, and energy. Then, I will discuss orbitronic effects in superconductors and the potential of achieving high-orbital moment Cooper pairs. This highlights how orbital degrees intertwine with superconducting states to generate novel transport responses [1]. Remarkably, the mechanisms underlying superconducting orbitronics can also serve to disentangle the complexity behind chiral-induced spin selectivity and spin-filtering effects [2]. In this context, by exploiting the connection between orbitronic and gating effects, I will describe how to design superconducting diodes, focusing on achieving nonreciprocal supercurrents through purely electrical means and time-dependent parametric effects [3, 4]. The last part of the talk will focus on correlated quantum materials and address topological states in ultrathin oxides [5] and multipolar ordering phenomena in oxides [6] and kagome systems [7], where hidden electronic orders give rise to unconventional collective phenomena and anomalous spin-optical responses. Finally, I will touch on recent advances in nonequilibrium phononics and Rashba systems [8], emphasizing how ultrafast lattice control and spin-orbit coupling can dynamically engineer functionalities beyond equilibrium. Together, these topics illustrate new routes toward tailoring quantum matter, which enable the control of phases both in and out of equilibrium. This research is supported by the PNRR MUR project PE0000023-NQSTI and by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) PRIN 2022 under Grant No. 2022LP5K7 (BEAT).

References:

[1] L. Chirolli, …, M. Cuoco, Colossal orbital Edelstein effect in noncentrosymmetric superconductors, Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 217703 (2022). 

[2] L. J. D'Onofrio, …, M. Cuoco, Filtering spin and orbital moment in centrosymmetric systems, Phys. Rev. B 112, 085428 (2025).

[3] D. Margineda, …, M. Cuoco, F. Giazotto, Back-action supercurrent rectifiers, Commun. Phys. 8, 16 (2025).

[4] Y. Yerin, …, M. Cuoco, A Kapitza Pendulum Route to Supercurrent Tunnel Diodes,
arXiv:2602.24198.

[5] T.?C. van Thiel, …, M. Cuoco, A. Caviglia, Coupling Charge and Topological Reconstructions at Polar Oxide Interfaces, , Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 127202 (2021). 

[6] F. Mazzola, …, M. Cuoco, A. Vecchione, Signatures of a surface spin–orbital chiral metal, Nature 626, 752 (2024).

[7] F. Mazzola, …, M. Cuoco, Anomalous Spin-Optical Helical Effect in Ti-Based Kagome Metal, Advanced Materials 38, e22533 (2026).

[8] M. Basini, …, M. Cuoco, S. Bonetti,Terahertz-Driven Parametric Excitation of Raman-Active Phonons in LaAlO₃, Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 156902 (2026).