Controlling the Quantum World The Science of Atoms, Molecules, and Photons (2007) / Chapter Skim
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3 Toward Absolute Zero
3 Toward Absolute Zero
Pages 53-72
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From page 53... ...
The frontier of this research is at the intersection of AMO with other fields, particularly condensed matter physics, low-temperature physics, plasma physics, and even theoretical nuclear physics. The interaction of researchers in these different fields is leading to exciting new physics, promising a decade of rapid advancement in these areas of science and blurring the line between research fields.
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controlling Quantum world the T 104 Surface of the Sun Boiling Water 103 102 Ice Liquid nitrogen 10 Liquid 4He, Superfluidity, Superconductivity 1 10–1 10–2 3 He Superfluidity, Doppler Cooling 10–3 10–4 10–5 10–6 10–7 10–8 Bose Einstein Condensation 10–9 FIGURE 3-1 Temperatures of some familiar objects, on a scale of powers of 10. 3-1 redrawn BOX 3-1 de Broglie Waves It has been known since the work of Max Planck and Albert Einstein that one must some times think of light as consisting of (massless)
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t owa r d a B s o lu t e Z e ro FIGURE 3-2 The original demonstration of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in a dilute gas of ru bidium atoms.
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CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS IN DILUTE ATOMIC SYSTEMS in ordinary liquid or solid matter, atoms are tightly packed and pressed against each other, typically separated by a fraction of a nanometer. interactions between atoms are complicated and often not exactly known.
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From page 57... ...
At such distances, however, the normal short-range effects of quantum mechanics, so critical to the physics of solids, are largely suppressed. one important application of ultracold atom physics is to develop scale mod els that can tell us about condensed matter systems.
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it also offers extraordinary future promise -- for instance, in quantum information science, the topic of chapter 7. When the effective interaction between two ultracold fermionic atoms is re pulsive, then there is a closely lying bound state of a bosonic diatomic molecule.
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FIGURE 3-3 Optical lattices are periodic potentials formed by the intersection of several laser beams in ultra-high-vacuum chambers. The left-hand panels show laser configurations forming (a)
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. optical lattices give us the ability to simulate a vast range of conditions ex pected in condensed matter systems, such as high-temperature superconductivity in layered oxides and numerous other exotic states of quantum matter.
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Such exotic states are now close to being produced in Bose systems and are expected in Fermi systems as well. the overlap between cold-atom physics and condensed matter physics de scribed in the previous paragraphs will create stunning opportunities for advances in experiment and theory over the next decade.
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in a magnetic trap; vortices in tightly bound lithium molecules (red-blue cartoon) ; and a vortex lattice in loosely bound fermion pairs on the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS)
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the concept of superfluidity is discussed earlier in this report, with the persis tence of the flow explained as analogous to the difficulty in removing a twist from a ribbon loop without cutting the ribbon. A fascinating possibility with molecular condensates is that the internal degrees of freedom of the molecules may change the rules that govern taking the twist out of a loop.
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in the context of a discussion of future research in cold molecules, it is worth noting that the key technical challenge in quantum computing is to develop a system of quantum bits that interact with one another so as to form gates but that do not interact with their environment, so as to avoid decoherence. trapped neutral atoms present one possible AMo realization of this, as do trapped ions (see chapter 7)
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t owa r d a B s o lu t e Z e ro BOX 3-4 Atom Interferometers In a conventional optical interferometer, a light beam is split into two or more paths that are recom bined later on a detector. If the beams from the different paths are in phase, their fields add up and the detector measures bright light.
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. Nonlinear Atom Optics Many laser applications rely on the ability to mix photons of different wave lengths and/or directions of propagation using techniques of nonlinear optics.
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. there is also an atom optic analog to nonlinear optics.
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in combination with techniques of cavity quantum electrodynamics and with microfabricated resonators, they may also lead to the development of novel systems for quantum information technologies. Quantum Atom Optics improvements in detectors will transform atom optics to quantum atom optics, the matter-wave analog of quantum optics.
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REACHING OUT: PLASMAS, NUCLEAR PHYSICS, AND MORE New and unforeseen bridges are developing between ultracold physics and areas of research that might at first sight seem far removed, including systems under extreme conditions such as plasma physics, high-energy physics, and astro physics. Cold Plasmas Plasmas are ubiquitous in the universe.
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Strongly coupled plasmas are models of dense astrophysical matter, as well as quark-gluon plasmas produced in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. Recently it was theoretically shown that laser-cooled ion plasmas in a Penning trap could be used to measure the exponential en hancement of close collisions in a strongly coupled plasma.
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SOURCE: National Institute of Standards and Technology. A close connection has emerged between the quark-gluon plasmas formed in heavy ion accelerators such as Brookhaven National Laboratory's relativistic heavy ion collider (RHic)
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the experimental realization of these states opens the way to exciting new potential approaches to quantum information processes and to the realization of quantum simulators to investigate in detail key problems in condensed matter physics. Nonlinear atom optics and the genera tion of vortex lattices in Becs, along with many other examples of theory leading experiment, illustrate that in AMo science, there is close cooperation between theory and experiment.
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