CAREER: Phases and Dynamics of Cold Atomic Gases

该职业奖支持冷原子系统中物质新状态的理论研究和教育。最近在冷却和捕获原子气体方面的进展导致了对物质相关态的观测。冷原子实验除了不含杂质外，还具有显著的可控性，因此可以调整粒子数、外部势的形状和原子相互作用等量。这种水平的控制，使相互作用的冷原子系统的广泛的参数空间的研究。PI将专注于与当前和未来冷原子实验相关的研究领域。PI将计算预测的三维不平衡费米气体的p波超流相的特征，并研究相变到其他有序状态的物质。为了解决最近关于准一维陷阱中不平衡气体的实验，PI将预测气体从陷阱中释放后Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov状态的动力学演化，看看这样的实验如何检测难以捉摸的Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov配对。另外的计算将在两个维度上检查不平衡气体，以刺激未来的实验。PI将计算周期性光学晶格中冷玻色子原子在宽范围晶格振幅中的性质，包括传统Hubbard模型崩溃的低振幅区域。另一个令人兴奋的研究领域是最近实现的冷原子的人工自旋轨道耦合。PI将分析自旋-轨道耦合如何改变物质的状态，例如光学晶格中玻色子的状态和费米子的Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov状态，并研究如何使用自旋-轨道耦合来创建拓扑绝缘相的冷原子类似物。教育部分包括为本科生开发课程，将采用新的教学方法。这将包括使课程的沟通密集。该奖项还支持向公众和高中生和中学生推广项目的各个方面。一个校内示范项目旨在提高少数民族学生对科学和科学职业的兴趣。非技术总结这个职业奖支持理论研究和教育，即原子在被困在激光束中时如何在非常低的温度下组织自己。这些“光的晶体”中的原子就像材料中的电子，只是更容易控制电子之间的相互作用，了解电子物质的状态。 虽然目前还不清楚冷原子气体中可能出现的某些物质状态是否以及如何通过晶体中的电子实现，但他们的发现仍然可以深入了解材料中的电子状态。 PI将探索是否可以在冷原子的捕获气体中观察到已经预测存在但难以在材料中观察到的超导状态。超导态是量子力学状态，能够在没有耗散的情况下传输电力。PI还将寻求是否可以在“光的晶体”中观察到最近提出的一种新的绝缘状态，拓扑绝缘体。拓扑绝缘体不会通过材料的主体导电，但具有具有不寻常特性的金属表面状态。这项研究有助于为未来可能的设备技术奠定知识基础。教育部分包括本科生课程开发，将纳入新的教学方法。这将包括使课程的沟通密集。该奖项还支持向公众和高中生和中学生推广项目的各个方面。一个校内示范项目旨在提高少数民族学生对科学和科学职业的兴趣。

TECHNICAL SUMMARYThis CAREER award supports theoretical research and education on new states of matter in cold-atom systems. Recent advances in the cooling and trapping of atomic gases have led to observations of correlated states of matter. Cold-atom experiments, in addition to being impurity-free, are remarkably controllable, so that quantities such as the particle number, the shape of an external potential and atomic interactions can be tuned. This level of control enables the study of a wide parameter space of interacting cold-atom systems. The PI will focus on research areas that are pertinent to current and future cold-atom experiments. The PI will compute signatures of predicted p-wave superfluid phases of three-dimensional imbalanced Fermi gases and study phase transitions to other ordered states of matter. To address recent experiments on imbalanced gases in a quasi-one-dimensional trap, the PI will predict the dynamical evolution of the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state after the gas has been released from the trap, to see how such experiments can detect the elusive Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov pairing. Additional calculations will examine imbalanced gases in two dimensions to stimulate future experiments.The PI will compute the properties of cold bosonic atoms in a periodic optical lattice across a broad range of lattice amplitudes, including the low amplitude regime where the conventional Hubbard model breaks down. Another exciting area of research is inspired by the recent achievement of an artificial spin-orbit coupling for cold atoms. The PI will analyze how spin-orbit coupling modifies states of matter, such as states of bosons in optical lattices and the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state of fermions, and study the question of how spin-orbit coupling can be used to create cold-atom analogues of topological insulating phases.The education component includes course development for undergraduate students that will incorporate novel teching methods. This will include making courses communication intensive. This award also supports aspects of an outreach project to the public and high school and middle school students. An in-school demonstration program is aimed to increase the interest of minority students in science and careers in science. NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYThis CAREER award supports theoretical research and education on how atoms organize themselves at very low temperature when they are trapped in beams of laser light. The atoms in these "crystals of light" are like the electrons in materials, except that it is easier to control the interactions among the electrons and learn about the states of electronic matter. While it is unclear whether and how some states of matter that may occur in gases of cold atoms can be realized by electrons in cystals, their discovery would still provide insight into electronic states in materials. The PI will explore whether a superconducting state that has been predicted to exist but has been difficult to observe in materials can be observed in trapped gases of cold atoms. Superconducting states are quantum mechanical states that are able to transport electricity without dissipation. The PI will aslo seek whether a recently proposed novel insulating state, a topological insulator, can be observed in "crystals of light". Topological insulators do not conduct electricity through the bulk of the material, but have metallic surface states with unusual properties.The research contributes to the intellectual foundations that underlie possible future device technologies. The education component includes course development for undergraduate students that will incorporate novel teching methods. This will include making courses communication intensive. This award also supports aspects of an outreach project to the public and high school and middle school students. An in-school demonstration program is aimed to increase the interest of minority students in science and careers in science.