Search results for "Ultracold atom"
showing 10 items of 42 documents
Exploring quantum matter with ultracold atoms in optical lattices
2005
Seventy years after Einstein's prediction, the seminal achievement of Bose–Einstein condensation in dilute atomic gases in 1995 has provided us with a new form of quantum matter. Such quantum matter can be described as a single giant matter wave. By loading it into an artificial periodic potential formed by laser light—a so-called optical lattice—it has become possible to probe matter far beyond the wave-like description. In a review of a series of experiments with ultracold quantum gases in optical lattices, we show that the granularity of the matter wave field, caused by the discreteness of atoms, gives rise to effects going beyond the simple single matter wave description. Bose–Einstein …
Many-body physics with ultracold gases
2007
This article reviews recent experimental and theoretical progress on many-body phenomena in dilute, ultracold gases. Its focus are effects beyond standard weak-coupling descriptions, like the Mott-Hubbard-transition in optical lattices, strongly interacting gases in one and two dimensions or lowest Landau level physics in quasi two-dimensional gases in fast rotation. Strong correlations in fermionic gases are discussed in optical lattices or near Feshbach resonances in the BCS-BEC crossover.
Quantum coherence and entanglement with ultracold atoms in optical lattices
2008
At nanokelvin temperatures, ultracold quantum gases can be stored in optical lattices, which are arrays of microscopic trapping potentials formed by laser light. Such large arrays of atoms provide opportunities for investigating quantum coherence and generating large-scale entanglement, ultimately leading to quantum information processing in these artificial crystal structures. These arrays can also function as versatile model systems for the study of strongly interacting many-body systems on a lattice.
Trapping of ultracold atoms in a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber
2008
Ultracold sodium atoms have been trapped inside a hollow-core optical fiber. The atoms are transferred from a free space optical dipole trap into a trap formed by a red-detuned gaussian light mode confined to the core of the fiber. We show that at least 5% of the atoms held initially in the free space trap can be loaded into the core of the fiber and retrieved outside.
Exploring Quantum Matter with Ultracold Atoms in Optical Lattices
2005
Publisher Summary This chapter explores quantum matter with ultracold atoms in optical lattices. The chapter focuses on bosonic atoms in optical lattices and on the regime where strong correlations between the atoms become important. In the interaction of atoms with coherent light fields, two fundamental forces arise. The Doppler force is dissipative in nature and can be used to efficiently laser cool a gas of atoms and relies on the radiation pressure together with spontaneous emission. The dipole force creates a purely conservative potential in which the atoms can move. No cooling can be realized with this dipole force, however if the atoms are cold enough initially, they may be trapped i…
Fermionic transport and out-of-equilibrium dynamics in a homogeneous Hubbard model with ultracold atoms
2012
The transport measurements of an interacting fermionic quantum gas in an optical lattice provide a direct experimental realization of the Hubbard model—one of the central models for interacting electrons in solids—and give insights into the transport properties of many-body phases in condensed-matter physics.
Counting atoms using interaction blockade in an optical superlattice.
2008
We report on the observation of an interaction blockade effect for ultracold atoms in optical lattices, analogous to Coulomb blockade observed in mesoscopic solid state systems. When the lattice sites are converted into biased double wells, we detect a discrete set of steps in the well population for increasing bias potentials. These correspond to tunneling resonances where the atom number on each side of the barrier changes one by one. This allows us to count and control the number of atoms within a given well. By evaluating the amplitude of the different plateaus, we can fully determine the number distribution of the atoms in the lattice, which we demonstrate for the case of a superfluid …
Highly controlled optical transport of cold atoms into a hollow-core fiber
2018
We report on an efficient and highly controlled cold atom hollow-core fiber interface, suitable for quantum simulation, information, and sensing. The main focus of this manuscript is a detailed study on transporting cold atoms into the fiber using an optical conveyor belt. We discuss how we can precisely control the spatial, thermal, and temporal distribution of the atoms by, e.g., varying the speed at which the atoms are transported or adjusting the depth of the transport potential according to the atomic position. We characterize the transport of atoms to the fiber tip for these different parameters. In particular, we show that by adapting the transport potential we can lower the temperat…
Investigation of Feshbach resonances in ultracold K40 spin mixtures
2017
Magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances are an indispensable tool for experiments with atomic quantum gases. We report on 37 thus far unpublished Feshbach resonances and four further probable Feshbach resonances in spin mixtures of ultracold fermionic $^{40}\mathrm{K}$ with temperatures well below 100 nK. In particular, we locate a broad resonance at $B=389.7\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\text{G}$ with a magnetic width of $26.7\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\text{G}$. Here $1\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\text{G}={10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\text{T}$. Furthermore, by exciting low-energy spin waves, we demonstrate a means to precisely determine the zero crossing of the scatte…
Quantum engineering of Majorana quasiparticles in one-dimensional optical lattices
2017
We propose a feasible way of engineering Majorana-type quasiparticles in ultracold fermionic gases on a one-dimensional (1D) optical lattice. For this purpose, imbalanced ultracold atoms interacting by the spin-orbit coupling should be hybridized with a three-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) molecular cloud. By constraining the profile of an internal defect potential we show that the Majorana-type excitations can be created or annihilated. This process is modelled within the Bogoliubov-de Gennes approach. This study is relevant also to nanoscopic 1D superconductors where modification of the internal defect potential can be obtained by electrostatic means.