Few Body Interactions in the Ultracold

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

Strides made by our field have tremendously deepened our understanding of ultracold atomic gases in the quantum mechanical realm. Increasingly, these gains are being translated into prospects for controlling atomic behavior, for instance in the development of the next generation of atomic clocks, for creating novel phases of atomic gases for purposes of quantum information technology, and for the manipulation of chemical reaction dynamics. Today, the capability of controlling interatomic interaction in ultracold quantum gases makes this field of research able to predict and realize a wide range of quantum phenomena that encompass a number of different physics subfields, notably atomic and molecular, condensed matter, and nuclear physics. As was fully recognized after the first dilute Bose-Einstein condensates were created, few-body processes have paramount importance, since they dictate the lifetime and stability of condensates as well as their mean-field behavior. Studies included in this project open up ways to explore and control few-body processes in ultracold quantum gases, thereby suggesting the likelihood of a new level of control over chemical reactions, as well as the ability to uncover novel quantum phases and the new ways to produce stable gases in exotic dynamical regimes. The research plans within the project have an impact on two major fronts. First, control over chemical reactions can be seen as a longstanding goal having far-reaching scientific and technological ramifications. Such control can be used, for instance, to study the role of scattering resonances in chemical reaction dynamics, to explore geometric phase effects in chemical dynamics, and ultimately to control chemical reactivity. Second, the search for novel quantum phases of matter, through the use of controllable interactions, sparks new ways to navigate in one of deepest territories of modern science.