| Abstract: Certain exotic phases of matter can give birth to emergent particles dubbed ‘anyons’ that behave strikingly differently from bosons and fermions. Laboratory exploration of anyons promises to not only reveal novel facets of quantum mechanics, but also pave the way to intrinsically fault-tolerant quantum computing hardware. Recent experiments spotlight spin-orbit-coupled magnetic insulators as an enticing potential anyon platform. Due to their insulating character, however, the roadmap from initial experiments to applications in this setting needs to be written essentially from scratch. In this talk I will partially fill in this roadmap by proposing strategies for creating, detecting, and manipulating anyons in magnetic insulators. I will also highlight arrays of Rydberg atoms as a complementary anyon venue amenable to similar techniques. |