The Physics of Ultra-Cold Quantum Gases

技术综述：该奖项支持凝聚态物理和原子物理交界处的理论研究和教育。PI将解决量子气体中四个主要领域的基本问题：(I)强相互作用费米气体，(Ii)光学晶格中的量子气体，(Iii)大角动量量子气体，以及(Iv)量子自旋动力学大自旋玻色气体。这些项目与当前的实验直接相关。同时，他们探索了新的方向。关于费米气体的项目将解决麻省理工学院小组和赖斯小组最近实验结果之间的主要差异，特别是麻省理工学院实验中存在部分自旋极化相，以及赖斯实验中违反局部密度近似。PI旨在研究晶格势对BEC-BCS交叉的影响。关于晶格量子气体的计划将有助于理解在光学晶格中达到量子简并的必要步骤，并建立准确的温度标度。PI还将启动一个程序来模拟光学晶格中费米子的半行为，该程序模拟了固态物理中的大多数非超流现象。计划中的大自旋量子气体项目将有助于揭示量子自旋动力学的特征，是朝着控制系统量子态迈出的重要一步。对快速旋转量子气体的研究将有助于在超冷费米子中实现量子霍尔态。该项目也为高等教育提供了机会，并为21世纪的高技能科学劳动力做出了贡献。非技术概述：该奖项支持凝聚态物理和原子物理界面的理论研究和教育。PI将研究原子冷却到非常低的温度并被捕获(例如被激光捕获)所表现出的新的量子力学状态。超冷原子系统中物质的某些状态类似于出现在复杂材料中的物质的电子态，以及半导体材料中受限于二维的强磁场中的电子。对这两个不同系统的研究之间的协同作用可能会导致在具有挑战性的基本科学问题上取得更快的进展。虽然超冷原子和电子系统各自都很有趣，但理解这些系统在每种情况下都有可能导致未来的计算和设备技术。该项目还为高等教育提供了机会，并为21世纪的高技能科学劳动力做出了贡献。

TECHNICAL SUMMARY:This award supports theoretical research and education at the interface of condensed matter physics and atomic physics. The PI will address fundamental issues in four major areas in quantum gases: (i) strongly interacting Fermi gases, (ii) quantum gases in optical lattices, (iii) quantum gases with large angular momentum, and (iv) quantum spin dynamics large spin Bose gases. These projects are directly related to current experiments. At the same time, they explore new directions.The projects on Fermi gases will address the major differences between the recent experimental findings between the MIT group and the Rice group, in particular the presence of a partially spin polarized phase in the MIT experiment and the violation of local density approximation in the Rice experiment. The PI aims to study the effect of lattice potentials on the BEC-BCS crossover. The projects on lattice quantum gases will help understand the necessary step to reach quantum degeneracy in optical lattices, and establish an accurate temperature scale. The PI will also begin a program to semi-behavior of Fermions in optical lattices, which simulate most of the non-superfluid phenomena in solid state physics.Planned projects on large spin quantum gas will help to uncover the signature of quantum spin dynamics, and is an important step towards controlling the quantum state of the system. The study of fast rotating quantum gases will help to realize quantum Hall states in ultra-cold fermions.This project also provides opportunities for advanced education and contributes to the highly skilled scientific workforce of the 21st century.NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:This award supports theoretical research and education at the interface of condensed matter physics and atomic physics. The PI will study new quantum mechanical states of matter exhibited by atoms cooled to very low temperature and trapped, for example by laser light. Some states of matter of ultracold atom systems are analogous to electronic states of matter that occur in complex materials and in electrons in a high magnetic field that are confined to two dimensions in semiconducting materials. The synergy among the studies of these two disparate systems may lead to more rapid advance on challenging fundamental scientific problems. While ultracold atoms and electronic systems are each interesting in their own right, understanding these systems in each case has the potential to lead to future computing and device technologies. This project also provides opportunities for advanced education and contributes to the highly skilled scientific workforce of the 21st century.