Riding a quantum wave: transport and flow of atomic quantum fluids

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This project intends to characterise and engineer the fundamental transport properties of atomic superfluids. Lasers and magnetic fields can be used to cool tiny samples of millions of atoms to temperatures a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero. At such cold temperatures they form a superfluid known as a Bose–Einstein condensate, which flows with zero viscosity. Using tailored light fields to trap and guide the atoms, this project plans to build rudimentary atomic circuits and coax the superfluid to flow through a channel between two reservoirs, firstly with thermodynamic gradients, and secondly by building a quantum pump. Together with computer modelling, this would allow us to characterise the microscopic transport properties of superfluids and provide us with an understanding of how to use them in atomtronic devices in the future.