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What is AMO Physics?
What is AMO Physics?
Atomic, molecular and optical (AMO) physics deals with the control of atoms and molecules with light and vice versa. In its early stages, the field was driven largely by experimental challenges, particularly the difficulty of trapping atoms. Breakthroughs in laser cooling techniques (Nobel 1997) enabled atoms to be slowed, so they could be trapped, eventually paving the way for the creation of the first Bose–Einstein condensate (Nobel 2001). More recent advancements in ion traps (Nobel 2012) and optical tweezers (Nobel 2018) have resulted in the control of the external degrees of freedom of individual atoms while lasers are used to address the internal states.
In AMO physics, we typically work with bosons because, unlike fermions, they can occupy the same quantum state. This property allows for many particles to behave coherently causing quantum effects to become observable on macroscopic scales (e.g. BECs). A unique property of AMO systems is that they can be tuned (almost) continually between the quantum and classical regimes, providing a powerful platform to probe fundamental questions about the boundary between the quantum and the classical worlds.
What do we do?
What do we do?
The ability for experimentalists to control individual atoms and photons to such a high precision has given license to theorists to explore a wide range questions in quantum physics which is where we come in. Some of the topics we have explored and will explore in the future are:
The ability for experimentalists to control individual atoms and photons to such a high precision has given license to theorists to explore a wide range questions in quantum physics which is where we come in. Some of the topics we have explored and will explore in the future are:
quantum probes of chaos/comparisons between quantum and classical chaos
universality of quantum phase transitions
comparisons between quantum and classical catastrophes (generic focusing patterns in waves).
One of the main focuses of our group going forward involves the
simulation of condensed matter physics in AMO systems, namely topologically protected states.
One way we simulate the behavior of electrons interacting with a magnetic field in solids is by periodically driving neutral atoms in ultracold gases. This approach not only provides insight into condensed matter systems but also reveals new properties that go beyond those found in real materials.
Example: Periodically modulating the interactions between atoms of a BEC in a double-well potential. The system at low temperatures can be described by states labeled n = NR - NL, the particle number difference between the wells. These states form a synthetic spatial dimension, and with two such BECs one obtains two dimensions labeled by n and m. The time evolution of the probability distribution in this space reproduces phenomena of electrons in materials, including cyclotron motion and topological edge currents.
cyclo.aviCyclotron Motion: Like with magnetic fields in real materials, synthetic magnetic fields in Fock space lead to insulator behavior in the bulk where the initial Gaussian distribution stays in place and rotates which is analogous to cyclotron motion of charged particles.
edge.aviTopological Edge Current: The synthetic magnetic field also leads to conduction along the edges of the Fock space which is similar to edge currents found in topological materials. In Fock space, the flow of the probability distribution plays the role of electric currents in real materials.
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