No Arabic abstract
We review and speculate on two recent developments of quantum optics and ultracold atoms. First, we discuss a possible realization of phonon physics, or as we call it refracton physics with optical lattices. To this aim we combine the physics of cold atoms with cavity QED, and investigate superfluid-Mott insulator quantum phase transition. The systems can exhibit cavity mode modifications due to local changes of refraction index (refractons). Second, we discuss the physics of strongly correlated particles in Abelian, and more interestingly in non-Abelian magnetic fields, using cold atoms.
We present a non-perturbative analysis of a new experimental technique for probing ultracold bosons in an optical lattice by periodic lattice depth modulations. This is done using the time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group method. We find that sharp energy absorption peaks are not unique to the Mott insulating phase at commensurate filling, but also exist for superfluids at incommensurate filling. For strong interactions the peak structure provides an experimental measure of the interaction strength. Moreover, the peak height of the second peak can be employed as a measure of the incommensurability of the system.
We present an overview of our recent measurements on the crossover from a Bose-Einstein condensate of molecules to a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superfluid. The experiments are performed on a two-component spin-mixture of $^6$Li atoms, where a Fesh-bach resonance serves as the experimental key to tune the s-wave scattering length and thus to explore the various interaction regimes. In the BEC-BCS crossover, we have characterized the interaction energy by measuring the size of the trapped gas, we have studied collective excitation modes, and we have observed the pairing gap. Our observations provide strong evidence for superfluidity in the strongly interacting Fermi gas.
The transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator (MI) phase has been observed in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of ytterbium (Yb) atoms in an optical lattice. An all-optically produced BEC of 174Yb atoms was loaded into three-dimensional optical lattices produced by a 532 nm laser beam. The interference pattern was measured after releasing the quantum gas from the trapping potential. As increasing the optical lattice depth, we observed the disappearance of the interference patterns, which is a signature of entering the MI regime. This result is an important step into studies by using a combination of the MI state and the ultranarrow optical transition of ultracold alkaline-earth-like atoms.
Quantum mechanical superexchange interactions form the basis of quantum magnetism in strongly correlated electronic media. We report on the direct measurement of superexchange interactions with ultracold atoms in optical lattices. After preparing a spin-mixture of ultracold atoms in an antiferromagnetically ordered state, we measure a coherent superexchange-mediated spin dynamics with coupling energies from 5 Hz up to 1 kHz. By dynamically modifying the potential bias between neighboring lattice sites, the magnitude and sign of the superexchange interaction can be controlled, thus allowing the system to be switched between antiferromagnetic or ferromagnetic spin interactions. We compare our findings to predictions of a two-site Bose-Hubbard model and find very good agreement, but are also able to identify corrections which can be explained by the inclusion of direct nearest-neighbor interactions.
We report the transport of ultracold atoms with optical tweezers in the non-adiabatic regime, i.e. on a time scale on the order of the oscillation period. We have found a set of discrete transport durations for which the transport is not accompanied by any excitation of the centre of mass of the cloud. We show that the residual amplitude of oscillation of the dipole mode is given by the Fourier transform of the velocity profile imposed to the trap for the transport. This formalism leads to a simple interpretation of our data and simple methods for optimizing trapped particles displacement in the non-adiabatic regime.