BGU Physics Department

Colloquium, June 14th, 2012


Magnetism in quantum gases


Dan Stamper-Kurn, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley
With quantum gases, one can explore magnetic ordering and dynamics in regimes inaccessible in solid-state systems.  For example, in degenerate spinor Bose gases, magnetization of the atomic spin is established parasitically along with Bose-Einstein condensation, allowing minute spin-dependent energies to dictate the magnetic ordering of the gas.  In addition, the extreme isolation of the atomic system allows for systems to created far out of equilibrium, allowing the dynamics of symmetry breaking to probed in real time.  A second cold-atom \"material,\" in which atoms are confined within the periodic potential of an optical lattice, bears a stronger resemblance to condensed-matter systems.  I will present recent progress to explore the effects of geometric frustration with cold atoms that are confined in a two-dimensional kagome optical lattice.