Exotic Phases of Ultracold Atoms

• Main Author: Liu, W V
• Other Authors: PITTSBURGH UNIVERSITY PA OFFICE OF RESEARCH
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Atomic and Molecular Physics and Spectroscopy; *ATOMS; *COLD GASES; LOW TEMPERATURE; PHYSICS; QUANTUM THEORY; INTERACTING ATOMS; ULTRA-LOW TEMPERATURE QUANTUM PHYSICS; ULTRACOLD GASES; ULTRACODL ATOMS; PE611102; IPY
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA574554; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA574554

We explored ultracold gases with seven projects during grant support. The supported research has resulted in 18 published articles, two of which are in Nature Physics, and 25 invited talks by the PI and postdocs. One of notable successes is the project of optical lattice p-orbital bands, which has gained considerable attention in recent years. Orbital physics of cold atoms is an emerging new topic in which, unlike most other topics, the theoretical development was earlier than the experiments. PI's contribution includes having published one of the earliest three theoretical papers that started this new field. Throughout the support period, the PI's team remains a leading research group of this subject, as evidenced by, for example, the invited talks in the APS March meeting and KITP Santa Barbara conference. The supported research, while being theoretical, have had a direct impact on experimental directions. For instance, the theoretical research of p-orbital bosons on the optical lattices has led to the new experimental setups of such systems by the world's most eminent experimental groups such as I. Bloch and A. Hemmerich. Our prediction of a new quantum phase - finite-momentum px+ipy Bose-Einstein condensate - was examined and partially confirmed by experiments.