自旋扭曲光晶格中的玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体

研究了自旋依赖双层方形光晶格中玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体(Bose-Einstein condensates,BEC)的基态特征.双层晶格间的相对扭曲角度和层间耦合强度是影响超冷原子密度分布的重要可调参数.当光晶格的最低能带呈单阱色散时,超冷原子在莫尔晶格(Moire lattice)中的局域化受扭曲角度、层间耦合强度、原子数和晶格深度等的影响;当光晶格的最低能带呈双阱色散时,光晶格的扭曲可导致2个自旋态的反向扭曲,随着层间耦合强度的增加,2个扭曲的自旋态逐渐重合.该研究工作有助于深入探索扭曲光晶格超冷原子中的新奇量子效应.     

双模SU(1,1)相干态与原子相互作用中的量子纠缠

考虑双模SU(1，1)相干态与二能级原子相互作用．分别用量子约化熵和量子相对熵研究了该系统双模SU(1，1)相干态与原子问的纠缠以及双模SU(1,1)相干态的模间纠缠，分析了SU(1,1)双模光子数差和光场失谐量对场-原子纠缠和模间纠缠的影响．     

激光冷却原子的新奇量子态与探测

随着原子气体的激光冷却和相干操控技术的飞速发展,冷原子系统的新奇量子态研究以及在量子精密测量的应用均取得了丰硕的成果,例如人造规范势、多体相互作用诱导的拓扑态及拓扑量子相变、冷原子喷泉频标、冷原子干涉仪测量引力常数、魔术波长光晶格频标、冷离子频标、冷原子重力仪、冷原子陀螺仪等.新型冷原子精密测量多次刷新了精密测量的记录,并逐渐成为新的计量标准.基于超冷原子的精密测量为新一代全球卫星导航、深空探测、微重力测量、地震预报、地下油田面积的勘测和油井的定位、工业精密测量与控制等提供新的关键技术.本文重点阐述了激光冷却原子的新奇量子态及探测技术,例如在玻色-凝聚体中产生自旋-轨道角动量耦合;由多体相互作用诱导的拓扑相变;在开通道、闭通道失衡Feshbach共振条件下,体系存在从FuldeFerrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov超流态到Sarma超流态的量子相变;发展了87Rb原子nP里德堡态的光谱测量、光晶格中超冷原子量子态的探测等手段,并实现了多组分BEC干涉仪.     

在玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚态中类Dicke模型的相变

自旋和轨道耦合为中性的超冷原子在玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚态(BEC)中的玻色系统提供了研究的机会.文章研究此类系统的相变和基态性质.首先将它映射到著名的量子光学中的Dicke模型,Dicke模型描述了一个原子系综和单模光场之间的相互作用.Dicke模型的中心问题是预测了超辐射相和一个正常相之间的量子相变.我们研究在自旋和轨道耦合中的类似Dicke模型的量子相变.采用平均场自旋相干态法,特别是考虑原子之间的相互作用,计算出描述系统的相变点和基态性质的物理量如平均光子数,平均基态能量、两种自旋激化等物理量的解析表达式,得到在相变前后物理量变化的趋势图并与实验结果相比较.     

海森堡反铁磁体双子晶格模型的压缩性质

利用参量相关的Bogoliubov变换公式对角化Heisenberg反铁磁双子晶格模型哈密顿，得到施行变换的自旋相关的幺正算符和精确本征态。讨论了关于本征基态两个子晶格原子的总自旋Z分量的涨落和系统SU（1，1），生成元的压缩特性。     

冷原子中的光致量子自旋Hall效应

我们在冷原子体系中利用光致规范场模拟量子自旋霍尔效应。我们通过对 这样的多能级原子施加适当的激光脉冲,构造出具二重兼并的能量暗态(能量为零的本征态）,类似于自旋二分量体系,我们分别定义两个暗态为自旋向上及自旋向下态。当原子在空间分布的激光场中运动时,其所感受到的有效自旋相关规范场将导致可观测的自旋霍尔电流,从而实现对自旋霍尔效应的直接观测。     

一维SOC晶格中In-plane Zeeman场驱动的量子相变

In-plane Zeeman场可以导致费米面变形使其产生不对称性,进而诱发很多新奇的物理现象,而自旋轨道耦合(SOC)则是近年来冷原子研究领域的热点。文章利用密度矩阵重整化群(DMRG)方法研究了in-plane Zeeman场和SOC作用下,一维光晶格中的吸引相互作用的费米气体的量子相变。研究发现:(i)in-plane Zeeman场能够引起非零动量Q配对,即FFLO态;(ii)SOC能使系统由FFLO态变为FFLO-BCS态,最终相变为BCS态;(iii)外势能引起FFLO-BCS态到BCS态的相变。     

自旋体系的一般 SU(2)相干态

本文引进自旋体系的一般SU(2)相干态的产生算符,从而推广了一般SU(2)相干态概念,给出了它的测不准关系,二阶相干度,并讨论了它的产生及其量子效应。     

F=1自旋相干态在外场中的量子演化

文章研究自旋F=1系统中自旋相干态的演化。系统中3×3的单粒子密度矩阵可分为单极矩(monopole),偶极矩(dipole)和四极矩(quadrupole)等三类。和2×2的赝自旋1/2系统中的泡利矩阵不同,系统中任意一个自旋角动量(dipole)矩阵的平方不再是一个单位矩阵,而是对应的不同的四极矩,这使得自旋F=1系统的物理问题更加丰富。通过SU(3)李代数群将系统的角动量和四极矩张量进行分类,并计算了它们之间的对易关系。并给出了F=1系统中自旋相干态表达式并和自旋1/2系统做了比较。由于四极矩张量和角动量之间的不对易性,使得基于角动量代数来计算相干态的演化已经失效。因此从基本的对易关系[a_m,a~?_m]出发,在粒子数表象中计算量子态的演化和外磁场的影响。文章给出3种可以解析描述的演化规律。基于此研究了二阶关联的演化,后者是自旋压缩特性的基本构成单元。同时我们将所有的代数结果和严格对角化数值方法进行了比较。     

两粒子非最大纠缠态的量子非局域性

利用Bell—CHSH(Clauser—Horne—Shimony—Holt)不等式研究两个自旋为1／2的原子所构成的量子态的量子非局域性，计算表明两个自旋为1／2的原子所构成的非最大纠缠态，它的量子非局域性与量子态之间的纠缠度和极角有关；而所构成的最大纠缠态的非局域性只与极角有关。     

Spatial quantum noise interferometry in expanding ultracold atom clouds

In a pioneering experiment, Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) demonstrated that noise correlations could be used to probe the properties of a (bosonic) particle source through quantum statistics; the effect relies on quantum interference between possible detection paths for two indistinguishable particles. HBT correlations--together with their fermionic counterparts--find numerous applications, ranging from quantum optics to nuclear and elementary particle physics. Spatial HBT interferometry has been suggested as a means to probe hidden order in strongly correlated phases of ultracold atoms. Here we report such a measurement on the Mott insulator phase of a rubidium Bose gas as it is released from an optical lattice trap. We show that strong periodic quantum correlations exist between density fluctuations in the expanding atom cloud. These spatial correlations reflect the underlying ordering in the lattice, and find a natural interpretation in terms of a multiple-wave HBT interference effect. The method should provide a useful tool for identifying complex quantum phases of ultracold bosonic and fermionic atoms.     

Quantum simulation of antiferromagnetic spin chains in an optical lattice

Understanding exotic forms of magnetism in quantum mechanical systems is a central goal of modern condensed matter physics, with implications for systems ranging from high-temperature superconductors to spintronic devices. Simulating magnetic materials in the vicinity of a quantum phase transition is computationally intractable on classical computers, owing to the extreme complexity arising from quantum entanglement between the constituent magnetic spins. Here we use a degenerate Bose gas of rubidium atoms confined in an optical lattice to simulate a chain of interacting quantum Ising spins as they undergo a phase transition. Strong spin interactions are achieved through a site-occupation to pseudo-spin mapping. As we vary a magnetic field, quantum fluctuations drive a phase transition from a paramagnetic phase into an antiferromagnetic phase. In the paramagnetic phase, the interaction between the spins is overwhelmed by the applied field, which aligns the spins. In the antiferromagnetic phase, the interaction dominates and produces staggered magnetic ordering. Magnetic domain formation is observed through both in situ site-resolved imaging and noise correlation measurements. By demonstrating a route to quantum magnetism in an optical lattice, this work should facilitate further investigations of magnetic models using ultracold atoms, thereby improving our understanding of real magnetic materials.     

Quantum coherence and entanglement with ultracold atoms in optical lattices

At nanokelvin temperatures, ultracold quantum gases can be stored in optical lattices, which are arrays of microscopic trapping potentials formed by laser light. Such large arrays of atoms provide opportunities for investigating quantum coherence and generating large-scale entanglement, ultimately leading to quantum information processing in these artificial crystal structures. These arrays can also function as versatile model systems for the study of strongly interacting many-body systems on a lattice.     

Single-spin addressing in an atomic Mott insulator

Ultracold atoms in optical lattices provide a versatile tool with which to investigate fundamental properties of quantum many-body systems. In particular, the high degree of control of experimental parameters has allowed the study of many interesting phenomena, such as quantum phase transitions and quantum spin dynamics. Here we demonstrate how such control can be implemented at the most fundamental level of a single spin at a specific site of an optical lattice. Using a tightly focused laser beam together with a microwave field, we were able to flip the spin of individual atoms in a Mott insulator with sub-diffraction-limited resolution, well below the lattice spacing. The Mott insulator provided us with a large two-dimensional array of perfectly arranged atoms, in which we created arbitrary spin patterns by sequentially addressing selected lattice sites after freezing out the atom distribution. We directly monitored the tunnelling quantum dynamics of single atoms in the lattice prepared along a single line, and observed that our addressing scheme leaves the atoms in the motional ground state. The results should enable studies of entropy transport and the quantum dynamics of spin impurities, the implementation of novel cooling schemes, and the engineering of quantum many-body phases and various quantum information processing applications.     

Designer Dirac fermions and topological phases in molecular graphene

The observation of massless Dirac fermions in monolayer graphene has generated a new area of science and technology seeking to harness charge carriers that behave relativistically within solid-state materials. Both massless and massive Dirac fermions have been studied and proposed in a growing class of Dirac materials that includes bilayer graphene, surface states of topological insulators and iron-based high-temperature superconductors. Because the accessibility of this physics is predicated on the synthesis of new materials, the quest for Dirac quasi-particles has expanded to artificial systems such as lattices comprising ultracold atoms. Here we report the emergence of Dirac fermions in a fully tunable condensed-matter system-molecular graphene-assembled by atomic manipulation of carbon monoxide molecules over a conventional two-dimensional electron system at a copper surface. Using low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy, we embed the symmetries underlying the two-dimensional Dirac equation into electron lattices, and then visualize and shape the resulting ground states. These experiments show the existence within the system of linearly dispersing, massless quasi-particles accompanied by a density of states characteristic of graphene. We then tune the quantum tunnelling between lattice sites locally to adjust the phase accrual of propagating electrons. Spatial texturing of lattice distortions produces atomically sharp p-n and p-n-p junction devices with two-dimensional control of Dirac fermion density and the power to endow Dirac particles with mass. Moreover, we apply scalar and vector potentials locally and globally to engender topologically distinct ground states and, ultimately, embedded gauge fields, wherein Dirac electrons react to 'pseudo' electric and magnetic fields present in their reference frame but absent from the laboratory frame. We demonstrate that Landau levels created by these gauge fields can be taken to the relativistic magnetic quantum limit, which has so far been inaccessible in natural graphene. Molecular graphene provides a versatile means of synthesizing exotic topological electronic phases in condensed matter using tailored nanostructures.     

A quantum scattering interferometer

The collision of two ultracold atoms results in a quantum mechanical superposition of the two possible outcomes: each atom continues without scattering, and each atom scatters as an outgoing spherical wave with an s-wave phase shift. The magnitude of the s-wave phase shift depends very sensitively on the interaction between the atoms. Quantum scattering and the underlying phase shifts are vitally important in many areas of contemporary atomic physics, including Bose-Einstein condensates, degenerate Fermi gases, frequency shifts in atomic clocks and magnetically tuned Feshbach resonances. Precise experimental measurements of quantum scattering phase shifts have not been possible because the number of scattered atoms depends on the s-wave phase shifts as well as the atomic density, which cannot be measured precisely. Here we demonstrate a scattering experiment in which the quantum scattering phase shifts of individual atoms are detected using a novel atom interferometer. By performing an atomic clock measurement using only the scattered part of each atom's wavefunction, we precisely measure the difference of the s-wave phase shifts for the two clock states in a density-independent manner. Our method will enable direct and precise measurements of ultracold atom-atom interactions, and may be used to place stringent limits on the time variations of fundamental constants.     

闪耀光栅产生光学势阱阵列

提出用液晶空间光调制器制作闪耀光栅产生光学势阱的新方案,优化设计光栅的相位变化参数,用单束激光照明,产生3×3和4×4等光强光学势阱阵列.根据现有空间光调制器性能和尺寸,模拟设计光栅,计算光阱阵列光强分布.研究结果表明：所产生的光阱阵列中各光阱具有较高的峰值光强和光强梯度,且光强分布均匀;对冷原子或冷分子囚禁有较高的光学偶极势和较强的偶极力,在原子光学晶格的实验研究中具有很好的应用前景.     

Phase-slip-induced dissipation in an atomic Bose-Hubbard system

Phase-slips control dissipation in many bosonic systems, determining the critical velocity of superfluid helium and the generation of resistance in thin superconducting wires. Technological interest has been largely motivated by applications involving nanoscale superconducting circuit elements, such as standards based on quantum phase-slip junctions. Although phase slips caused by thermal fluctuations at high temperatures are well understood, controversy remains over the role of phase slips in small-scale superconductors--in solids, problems such as uncontrolled noise sources and disorder complicate their study and application. Here we show that phase slips can lead to dissipation in a clean and well-characterized Bose-Hubbard system, by experimentally studying the transport of ultracold atoms trapped in an optical lattice. In contrast to previous work, we explore a low-velocity regime described by the three-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model that is unaffected by instabilities, and we measure the effect of temperature on the dissipation strength. The damping rate of atomic motion (the analogue of electrical resistance in a solid) in the confining parabolic potential is well fitted by a model that includes finite damping at zero temperature. The low-temperature behaviour is consistent with the theory of quantum tunnelling of phase slips, whereas at higher temperatures a crossover consistent with a transition to thermal activation of phase slips is evident. Motion-induced features reminiscent of vortices and vortex rings associated with phase slips are also observed in time-of-flight imaging. These results clarify the role of phase slips in superfluid systems. They may also be of relevance in understanding the source of metallic phases observed in thin films, or serve as a test bed for theories of bosonic dissipation based upon variants of the Bose-Hubbard model.     

Repulsively bound atom pairs in an optical lattice

Throughout physics, stable composite objects are usually formed by way of attractive forces, which allow the constituents to lower their energy by binding together. Repulsive forces separate particles in free space. However, in a structured environment such as a periodic potential and in the absence of dissipation, stable composite objects can exist even for repulsive interactions. Here we report the observation of such an exotic bound state, which comprises a pair of ultracold rubidium atoms in an optical lattice. Consistent with our theoretical analysis, these repulsively bound pairs exhibit long lifetimes, even under conditions when they collide with one another. Signatures of the pairs are also recognized in the characteristic momentum distribution and through spectroscopic measurements. There is no analogue in traditional condensed matter systems of such repulsively bound pairs, owing to the presence of strong decay channels. Our results exemplify the strong correspondence between the optical lattice physics of ultracold bosonic atoms and the Bose-Hubbard model-a link that is vital for future applications of these systems to the study of strongly correlated condensed matter and to quantum information.