Events
Tuesday, 06 July, 2010
MPQ Colloquium: Quantum engineering at nanokelvin temperatures: Quantum phase transitions, strong correlations, and novel many-body systems
06.07.2010 13:30
Prof. Dr. Hanns-Christoph Nägerl
Universität Innsbruck
I will review recent experiments with atomic and molecular quantum gases in the regime of quantum degeneracy, Bose-Einstein condensation, and strong correlations. Ultracold atomic and molecular gases are versatile tunable laboratory systems for the study of complex many-body quantum phenomena as essentially all parameters such as geometry and strength of confinement and the strength of interactions can be controlled with near-perfect isolation from external perturbations. For atoms 1D geometry, I will discuss the strongly-interacting limits of so-called Tonks-Girardeau and super-Tonks-Girardeau phases [1]. We observe the pinning quantum phase transition in the presence of an arbitrarily weak lattice potential [2]. I will outline our efforts to achieve quantum degeneracy of molecules in optical lattice potentials [3] with the aim to generate dipolar quantum gas phases.
[1] Realization of an excited, strongly correlated quantum Gas Phase, E. Haller et al., Science 325, 1224 (2009).
[2] Observation of the pinning quantum phase transition for a Luttinger liquid of strongly interacting bosons, E. Haller et al.,, Nature in print (2010)
[3] An ultracold high-density sample of rovibronic ground-state molecules in an optical lattice, J.G. Danzl et al., Nature Physics 6, 265 (2010).