Theory of ultracold atoms: from fundamentals of quantum mechanics to applications

像激光冷却这样的技术现在可以将原子气体冷却到比绝对零度（nK）低几亿分之一度的温度。这些“超冷”原子以非常量子力学的方式表现，因为它们的德布罗意波长非常大（~µm，即比室温下大5个数量级）。超冷原子已经被用来制造新的物质状态，比如玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体（BECs），其中气体中的每个原子都具有相同的量子波函数。然而，超冷原子的科学潜力不仅仅局限于基本的量子力学；它们的运动状态可以被控制到前所未有的程度，它们也开始在自然力量和常数的精确测量中发挥重要作用。我的研究涉及这两个方面背后的理论。

Techniques such as laser cooling can now cool gases of atoms to temperatures as low as a few billionths of one degree above absolute zero (nK). These "ultracold" atoms behave in a very quantum mechanical way because their de Broglie wavelengths are so large (~µm, i.e., 5 orders of magnitude larger than at room temperature). Ultracold atoms have already been used to make new states of matter such as Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in which every atom in the gas has the same quantum wave function. However, the scientific potential of ultracold atoms is not just confined to fundamental quantum mechanics; their motional state can be controlled to such an unprecedented degree that they are also beginning to play an important role in precision measurements of nature's forces and constants. My research concerns the theory behind both of these aspects.