Description:

Title: Quantum dynamics and transport in an atomic BEC with Raman-induced synthetic band structure and spin orbit coupling

Speaker: Yong Chen, Purdue University

Abstract: Raman scattering and coupling are widely used optical techniques to study diverse physical systems ranging from atoms, molecules to nanomaterials and solids. Raman coupling between atoms of different internal quantum states (“spins”) and different momenta have been recently employed as a powerful tool to modify the energy-momentum kinetic energy dispersion of atoms to induce “synthetic” bandstructures, gauge fields and spin-orbit-coupling (SOC) for ultracold atoms. In my lab, we have employed a Rubdium-87 atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) in such Raman-induced synthetic spin-orbit-coupled bandstructures to study various quantum dynamics and quantum transport phenomena, including tunable and time-resolved Landau-Zener interband transitions, spin-resolved atomic beam splitter and Stuckelberg interferometer in momentum space, and relaxation of spin current via collision and thermalization of colliding spinor BECs. Experiments on spin-orbit coupled quantum gases may provide a well-controlled playground of interests to both AMO physics (scattering and few-body processes) and condensed matter physics (superfluidity, quantum transport, and topological states).

Host: Brian Odom

Keywords: Physics, Astronomy, AMO