Objective
A Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) in chromium (Cr) has been created recently. Compared to other species, Cr has two assets: it can be used for lithography, and, due to its large magnetic moment, the long-range, anisotropic magnetic dipole-dipole interaction (MDDI) is comparable to the contact interaction usually at work in standard BECs. MDDI is of general interest as it provides the cold atoms community with a new tool in the interdisciplinary field of quantum engineering. MDDI is intermediate between the contact interaction encountered in atomic physics, and the Coulomb interaction present in condensed-matter systems. MDDI provides a way to study, in a clean model system with tuneable parameters, fundamental problems arising in solid-state physics, such as quantum magnetism or spintronics.
In this project, we plan to study experimentally the new BEC properties arising from the MDDI. A Cr condensate is the only system so far in which such phenomena can be observed. We will first study the dependence of the condensate stability on the trap geometry. Then, the excitations of the condensate will be studied: we will measure the excitation spectrum, in which a roton minimum (similar to the one in liquid He) has been predicted. For such studies, tuning short and long-range interactions (with Feshbach resonance and rotating magnetic fields, respectively) is crucial. In a second step, we plan to engineer new, highly correlated quantum states of matter, by loading the Cr BEC into an optical lattice.
The interplay between contact interaction, MDDI, and tunnelling induces a wealth of unexplored quantum phases, such as super-solid or `checkerboard ones. The project lies in a highly competitive research field, at the border between atomic and condensed-matter physics, and will therefore contribute to the excellence of European research. It will also highly improve to my professional maturity by allowing me to broaden my experimental and theoretical skills.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrytransition metals
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesatomic physics
- natural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicsspintronics
- natural sciencesphysical sciencescondensed matter physicssolid-state physics
- natural sciencesphysical sciencescondensed matter physicsbose-einstein condensates
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Call for proposal
FP6-2005-MOBILITY-5
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
EIF - Marie Curie actions-Intra-European FellowshipsCoordinator
STUTTGART
Germany