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Many-body Quantum Dynamics

Cavendish Laboratory

Welcome to our website!

We use ultracold atoms as quantum simulators for many-body phenomena and as quantum sensors, in particular for fundamental physics.

 

Quantum Simulaton

We are studying many-body phenomena at the interface between quantum optics and solid state physics. Following a statement by P.W. Anderson, "More is Different", genuine many-body phenomena are emergent phenomena that only appear when many particles come together, typical examples being superfluidity or magnetism.

Our main tool are quantum gases and in particular ultracold atoms in optical lattices.

  • One avenue of research is the creation and analysis of novel synthetic quantum matter, that is novel many-body systems with fascinating properties, for instance novel types of order. Examples include topological systems or many-body localisation.
  • Another direction is quantum simulation. Here we aim to study existing problems such as the physics of strongly-correlated materials, which are in general impossible to model using classical supercomputers. The main workhorse here is the implementation of bosonic and fermionic Hubbard models in our experiments.
  • In particular, we are often interested in the non-equilibrium dynamics of the above systems.

 

Quantum Sensors

The humble atom is nature's most powerful quantum sensor, and its unparalleled precision is harnessed in atomic clocks to literally define our time. A new and upcoming development are plans to exploit large-scale atom interferometers, where baselines can range from 10m to km- and larger scales, that will offer unprecedented sensitivity to detect gravitational waves in the mid-frequency range, search for ultra-light dark matter, and hunt for unknown physics. 
We are part of the AION collaboration that is developing a new experimental platform to perform interferometry with ultracold strontium atoms. 

 

Please read on if you want to learn more about our research.

Please contact us if you are interested in working with us as an undergraduate (e.g. for an external Master's thesis) or graduate student or Postdoc!

You can read our latest tweets on Twitter @CaMBQD or  

 

 



Latest news

IOP Joseph Thomson Medal

22 December 2023

Professor Ulrich Schneider received the IOP 2023 Joseph Thomson Medal and Prize for groundbreaking experiments on the collective dynamics of quantum gases in optical lattices, including fundamental studies of localization effects in both disordered and quasicrystalline systems. More information at: https://www.iop.org/...

Postdoc Positions available

1 July 2023

We have two experimental postdoc opportunities on many-body physics in Optical Quasicrystals and on being part of the UK Quantum Technology Hub and developing optical optical-lattice and tweezer-based Quantum Simulators . More information at: https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/41624/ Applications close on 15/8/23.

Observing the two-dimensional Bose glass in an optical quasicrystal

2 March 2023

Our latest work on observing the two-dimensional Bose glass in our optical quasicrystal is now on the Arxiv: Arxiv:2303.00737 . We could not only observe the Bose glass and the phase transition between Bose glass and superfluid, but could furthermore experimentally establish the non-ergodic character of the Bose glass...

Hubbard Models for Quasicrystalline Potentials

13 October 2022

Our latest work on creating Hubbard Models for Quasicrystalline Potentials is now on the Arxiv (2210.05691). In it, we present a numerical method for constructing the Hubbard Hamiltonian of non-periodic potentials without making use of Bloch's theorem, and then apply it to the eightfold rotationally symmetric 2D optical...

AION Vacuum system arrived

4 July 2022

The AION experiment reached an important first milestone with the UHV vacuum chamber having been delivered. Next stop: laser cooled Strontium. aion_uhv_chamber.jpg