Topology, Singularities and Emulation in a Spinor BEC

现代物理学的一个前沿涉及操纵和研究在接近零开尔文的温度下冷却和捕获的原子。冷原子的稀释样品已被用于实现高性能原子钟和德布罗意波陀螺仪，以及模拟新型量子材料。这个项目是基于使用这种超冷量子原子蒸汽来模拟和模拟物理的一系列子领域的问题。这项工作的重要性包括对科学总体进步的贡献，特别是对我们对量子世界的理解的贡献。预计一个关键的影响将是创造对量子技术的发展和对新材料的理解有用的知识。同样重要的是，这项研究将是培训下一代科学家的核心，他们中的许多人将组成开发这些新技术所必需的特别工作组。该项目团队使用精心准备的激光脉冲来操纵铷的量子简并气体，使其随后的行为模拟对其他领域(如材料科学和核自旋共振（MRI等技术的核心现象）等问题很重要的物理现象。该项目基于与该目标相关的一系列研究，这些研究建立在该小组在自旋玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体（BEC）上刻印自旋和轨道角动量结构的经验之上。具体来说，该小组将研究一系列非平凡拓扑激励（无核心涡，如Skyrmions， Alice弦，相态等）的创建，稳定性和激发；使用最近实现的全Bloch BEC来获得拓扑相位，即guy相位；实现和研究自旋BEC中的点状缺陷，如交叉散旋织构。所提出的工作共享一个共同的实验技术平台，其中许多是由该小组开发的，以及一个共同的理论框架。

A frontier of modern physics involves the manipulation and study of atoms cooled and trapped with temperatures near zero degrees Kelvin. Dilute samples of cold atoms have been used to realize high-performance atomic clocks and deBroglie wave gyroscopes as well as to model novel quantum materials. This project is based on the use of such ultracold quantum-atomic vapors to simulate and emulate problems from a range of subfields of physics. The importance of this work includes contributions to the general progress of science and specifically to our understanding of the quantum world. A key impact is expected to be the creation of knowledge useful for the development of quantum technologies and understanding of novel materials. Of equal importance is that the research will be central to the training of the next generation of scientists, many of whom will form the taskforce that is necessary to develop these new technologies.The project team uses carefully prepared laser pulses to manipulate a quantum degenerate gas of rubidium in such a way that its subsequent behavior models physical phenomena important to problems in other areas such as materials science and nuclear spin resonance (the phenomena at the heart of technologies such as MRI). The project rests on a series of studies related to this goal that build on the group's experience with imprinting spin and orbital angular momentum structures on a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). Specifically the group will investigate the creation, stability and excitations of an array of non-trivial topological excitations (coreless vortices such as Skyrmions, Alice strings, phase states, etc.); to use a recently realized full Bloch BEC to gain access to a topological phase, the Gouy phase; to realize and investigate point-like defects in a spinor BEC such as the cross dis-gyration texture. The proposed work shares a common platform of experimental techniques, many of which are well developed by the group, and a common theoretical framework.