Matter wave spectroscopy of the many-body physics in optical lattices

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andreas Buchleitner
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2011 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 201192159

We seek to develop matter wave spectroscopy and interferometry for probing the many-body physics of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. The applicants’ work, which revealed a clear dependence of matter wave scattering on the superfluid to Mott insulator phase transition [1], opens the door to studies of critical behavior of the scattering in the region of the phase transition, as well as imaging of purely quantum mechanical fluctuations and correlations. In order to accomplish the latter, we will exploit atom interferometry, in which a probe beam is accompanied by a coherent reference beam, to enable observation of quantum mechanical phases, which echo the density fluctuations in an optical lattice. Having developed a robust understanding for matter wave probes of bosonic targets, we will turn our attention to probing the distinct physics that appears in fermionic systems. Finally, we will incorporate disorder and partially filled lattices, and examine the regimes in which matter wave interference phenomena, such as Anderson localization, survive inelastic scattering of the atoms in the lattice.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants