Optical Feshbach Resonances and Solitons in Quantum Degenerate Strontium

现代社会的许多技术奇迹都依赖于我们在微观层面上理解和控制材料性质的能力，例如调节用于制造计算机芯片的半导体的导电性。在过去的十年里，在创造和研究超冷气体原子云方面取得了巨大的进展，这些气体原子云被激光冷却到绝对零度以上约百万分之一度的温度。用这种方法制造的超冷原子具有惊人的特性，它们的相互作用可以被任意控制，这使得它们有可能被用来制作设计材料或测试复杂和重要现象的模型，如高温超导性。目前用于控制这些相互作用的工具是施加强磁场，但磁场有缺点；很难快速改变大磁场或在小长度尺度上改变场。基利安教授在德克萨斯州休斯敦的休斯敦大学的研究小组将开发使用激光来模拟原子与原子相互作用的新技术，这种技术具有更强的反射性，可能会为新的应用开辟道路，例如由原子而不是光组成的激光光束，或者制造新的物质状态的能力。这项工作还将涉及至少两名研究生和一名本科生，它将培训他们从事光学或材料方面的高科技职业。莱斯的超冷原子物理实验室还与休斯顿校区YES Prep High School建立了合作关系，YES Prep High School是一所非常成功的特许学校，面向残疾青年。这种合作将高中生带入精心设计的学期访问和夏令营，并向他们介绍发现前沿的科学带来的兴奋，希望激励他们追求科学、技术、工程和数学事业。像这样的基本原子物理实验正在为明天的技术奇迹奠定今天的科学和人力资源基础。

Many technological marvels in modern society rely upon our ability tounderstand and control the properties of materials on a microscopiclevel, such as tuning the electrical conductivity in semiconductors thatare used to make computer chips. In the last decade, there have beengreat advances in the creation and study of ultracold clouds of gaseousatoms, which are cooled by lasers to temperatures around a millionth ofa degree above absolute zero. Ultracold atoms made in this way have theamazing property that their interactions can be arbitrarily controlled,which opens the possibility of using them to make designer materials ortest models of complex and important phenomena such as high temperaturesuperconductivity. The tool currently used to control these interactionsis the application of a strong magnetic field, but magnetic fields havedisadvantages; it is difficult to quickly change large magnetic fieldsor vary fields on small length scales. Prof. Killian's research group atRice University in Houston, Texas will develop new techniques formanipulating atom-atom interactions using lasers, which are much moreflexible and may open the way to new applications such as laser beamsmade of atoms instead of light, or the ability to make new states of matter.This work will also involve at least two graduate students and oneundergraduate student, and it will train them for high-technologycareers in optics or materials. The ultracold atomic physics laboratoryat Rice also has a partnership with the Houston campus of Yes Prep HighSchool, a highly successful charter school targeting disadvantagedyouth. This collaboration brings high school students into thelaboratory for term-time visits and summer camps, and introduces them tothe excitement of science at the frontiers of discovery in hopes ofinspiring them to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathcareers. Basic atomic physics experiments such as these are laying thescientific and human resources foundation today for the technologicalmarvels of tomorrow.