Speaker: Dieter Jaksch

Date: 28 August 2008

Venue:  Physics Conference Room, S13 Level M

Title: Optical Lattice Immersions for Direct Quantum Simulations

Abstract: 

I will investigate the properties of atoms which are trapped in an optical lattice and immersed into a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). I will show that interspecies interactions lead to dephasing of the lattice atoms and, via BEC phonons, mediate an attractive interaction between them. This may cause lattice atoms to aggregate into a cluster. I will also study the impact of the BEC on transport properties and find a crossover from coherent behaviour described by an extended Hubbard model to diffusive hopping.  Furthermore I will show that weak attractive interspecies interactions may give rise to instabilities. I will discuss the relation of this atomic lattice immersion to condensed matter systems and how it may be used for direct quantum simulations. Finally, I will extend these considerations to moving and rotating Bose-Einstein condensates and show how magnetic phenomena can be simulated in lattice immersions.

Recommended Pre-reading Materials:

Simulating Physics with Computers
Richard P. Feynman
International Journal of Theoretical Physics, VoL 21, Nos. 6/7, (1982)

Many-Body Physics with Ultracold Gases

Immanuel Bloch, Jean Dalibard, Wilhelm Zwerger
Rev. Mod. Phys. 80, 885 (2008)

The cold atom Hubbard toolbox, review article

D. Jaksch and P. Zoller

Annals of Physics 315, 52 (2005)

Optical Lattices, Ultracold Atoms and Quantum Information Processing

D. Jaksch

Contemporary Physics 45, 367 (2004)