Projektbeschreibung
Erforschung der Teilchenwechselwirkungen in ultrakalten Gasen
Ultrakalte Atome in einem optischen Gitter verkörpern einen einzigartigen Ansatz zur Erkundung der Quanten-Vielteilchensysteme, die bisher nur anhand von experimentellen Systemen aus kondensierter Materie untersucht werden konnten. Dieser neue Ansatz, die sogenannte Quantensimulation, bietet die Möglichkeit, Materialien mit exotischen Zuständen entstehen zu lassen. Bislang wurden bei Quantensimulationen die Wechselwirkungen in ultrakalten Gasen vernachlässigt und es wurde jede beobachtete Größe mit Einzelteilchenzuständen in Verbindung gebracht. Das EU-finanzierte Projekt LATIS versucht, stark korrelierte topologische Zustände in ultrakalten Gasen mittels Manipulation eines kleinen Ensembles aus Atomen im optischen Gitter zu realisieren. Aufbauend auf den jüngsten Fortschritten in der technischen Entwicklung topologischer Bandstrukturen in optischen Gittern wird LATIS die hinter den Teilchenwechselwirkungen in ultrakalten Gasen verborgene Physik mit bislang noch nie erreichter Genauigkeit erforschen.
Ziel
The LATIS project builds on the latest advances in addressing individual atoms and engineering topological band structures in optical lattices, in view of exploring the rich physics of interacting topological matter with unprecedented control. Ultracold topological matter has recently emerged as a central theme in the realm of quantum gases. By manipulating ultracold atoms in optical lattices, various experimental groups have realized a variety of topological band structures and detected their characteristic features. Creating topological matter with ultracold atoms offers a novel view on intriguing phenomena initially discovered in the solid state but also allows for the realization of exotic states that are inaccessible in real materials. This quantum-simulation approach to topological matter generates a constructive synergy between theoretical developments driven by curiosity and concrete technological applications. Until now, ultracold topological matter has been explored in the non-interacting regime of quantum gases, so that the observed quantities are associated with single-particle states. However, exciting avenues would become accessible upon combining engineered band structures with tunable interactions. This scenario would provide a concrete path towards the experimental realization of strongly-correlated topological states in ultracold gases. A promising path to create and address such states consists in manipulating a very small ensemble of atoms within a few lattice sites of an optical lattice, as now made possible by quantum gas microscopes. This setting would allow for unprecedented control over strongly-correlated topological matter, hence offering a unique framework for many-body quantum physics. The results emanating from the LATIS project will have a substantial impact on a wide scientific community working on quantum geometry and topological states of matter, with direct consequences for ongoing experiments on synthetic topological systems.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
Schlüsselbegriffe
Programm/Programme
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Thema/Themen
Finanzierungsplan
ERC - Support for frontier research (ERC)Gastgebende Einrichtung
1050 Bruxelles / Brussel
Belgien