Condensed Matter Physics explores the exotic behaviors that emerge when many quantum-mechanical particles interact with one another. Exciting theoretical questions range from the origins of high-temperature superconductivity to properties of topological quantum materials and beyond. While many experimental efforts aim to validate these theoretical models, condensed matter techniques have applications across quantum science, from device development and information processing to quantum simulation.

Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics has its origins in spectroscopy, and has produced an extremely exciting set of tools for creating and probing many of todays most exciting quantum systems. From quantum simulation and materials science using ultracold atoms in optical lattices and photonic Landau levels on cones, to coherent x-ray science, AMO is an extremely active area at the University of Chicago.

Quantum Information Science explores how computation, along with the storage and transmission of information, change once quantum effects come into play. This includes theoretical topics including computation models and error correction, as well as experimental topics such as practical implementations of quantum computers in semiconducting, superconducting, and cold atomic systems.

Quantum Optics is a field of research that harnesses interacting photons and atoms to explore the fundamental limits of the physical world; the focus is on observing aspects of the world which are uniquely quantum mechanical, including squeezing, entanglement, and the transition from quantum-to-classical as quantum dynamics compete with dissipation.

Nanomechanics is a branch of nanoscience studying fundamental mechanical (elastic, thermal and kinetic) properties of physical systems at the nanometer scale. Nanomechanics has emerged on the crossroads of classical mechanics, solid-state physics, statistical mechanics, materials science, and quantum chemistry.

In condensed matter physics, systems such as fractional quantum Hall states, string-net condensed states, and other strongly correlated quantum liquid states, are described possess topologically ordered on a global scale as opposed to that of local symmetries.