Project description
If only a cluttered desk were the sign of a clear mind and augmented productivity
A flock of dispersed geese that comes together in an organised V formation enables the individuals to increase each other's lift and reduce air resistance, allowing them to fly up to 70 % farther with the same energy expenditure. On the quantum level, many things are different, among them the potential benefits of disorder and the emergence of exotic phenomena. The EU-funded VorDIST project is investigating and characterising the combination of strong interactions and disorder in ultracold atomic gases, a paradigm of quantum simulation. The experimental studies will significantly enhance our understanding of disorder and thus our ability to harness it in novel devices and materials.
Objective
Disorder is omnipresent in nature and has a strong impact on quantum materials. The paradigmatic example is Anderson localization of a single particle but many more intriguing situations can arise for many-body systems depending on the interplay between interaction and disorder. The metal-insulator and superconductor-insulator transitions, which highlighted the importance of interaction, still remain enigmatic phenomena. Another profound effect of disorder in superconductors takes place in type-II superconductors, which involve quantum vortices. A quantum vortex in a superconductor is highly influenced by the presence of defects and its mobility is the key ingredient for superconductivity. Despite its importance, a clear understanding of disorder physics is still lacking because of unavoidable complexities in condensed matter systems. In this project, we explore disorder physics with ultracold atomic gas.
The ultracold atomic gas system has been recognized as an excellent quantum simulator because it provides an unprecedentedly controllable and clean testbed. Quantum simulations with quantum gas have successfully addressed important, yet unsolved physical problems in many different fields. Here, we will carry out experimental studies of two-dimensional (2D) Fermionic quantum gas under disorder potential. Our first goal is the observation of 2D Anderson localization. Then we will further investigate the interplay between interaction and disorder. We aim to reveal the robustness of the order parameter of superfluid when the superfluid is transformed into an insulating phase. Next, we will obtain a phase diagram of a disordered 2D system. Lastly, we want to address the paradigmatic problems of vortex matter in a superconductor, both in a single and a bilayer system. Thus, we can unveil vortex dynamics in disordered superfluids.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinator
00185 Roma
Italy