Description:

Abstract: Gases of ultracold atoms share some of the properties of electrons in solids. Optical lattices influence such atoms in much the same way as crystal lattices do electrons. The atomic systems offer opportunities for measurement and control that are not available in solids, leading to surprising behavior even in elementary systems. Some phenomena that are difficult or impossible to study in solid systems are easy to realize in atomic systems. Simple, yet calculationally intractable, models for the behavior of condensed systems can be realized in atomic systems, which then act as quantum simulators of condensed matter models. Some cold atom systems have no analogous counterpart in condensed matter. This talk will describe some of these features of ultracold atomic gases, which provide not only an important complement to traditional methods for studying solids, but also represent an entirely new form of condensed matter.

Bill Phillips

NIST and the University of Maryland

This is Lecture 1 of 3 in the 2022 Heilborn Lecture Series. 
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Keywords: Physics, Astronomy, Heilborn