Bulletin of the American Physical Society
42nd Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
Volume 56, Number 5
Monday–Friday, June 13–17, 2011; Atlanta, Georgia
Session C6: DAMOP Thesis Prize Session |
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Chair: Ana Maria Rey, JILA and University of Colorado Room: A706 |
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 2:00PM - 2:30PM |
C6.00001: Novel Systems and Methods for Quantum Communication, Quantum Computation, and Quantum Simulation Invited Speaker: This talk focuses on advances in the quantum control of photons, atoms, and molecules. These advances provide fundamental insights into complex quantum phenomena and bring the realization of quantum communication, computation, and simulation closer to reality. We first present an overview of the work, covering 1) single-photon quantum memory and nonlinear coupling, 2) sub-wavelength optical addressing, and 3) control over alkaline-earth atoms and polar molecules. We then focus on ultracold alkaline-earth atoms in optical lattices. In particular, we demonstrate their use as few-qubit quantum registers, with applications to quantum computation and precision measurements. We also evince their ability to act as novel quantum simulators of highly symmetric systems exhibiting spin-orbital interactions. Such systems may provide valuable insights into the physics of strongly correlated transition-metal oxides, heavy-fermion materials, and spin-liquid phases. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 2:30PM - 3:00PM |
C6.00002: Bright Attosecond Soft and Hard X-ray Supercontinua Invited Speaker: In this talk, I will present an experimentally feasible and straightforward route for generating bright, fully coherent, x-ray light by combining attosecond science with extreme nonlinear optics. By driving high-order harmonic generation using longer-wavelength mid-infrared lasers, I show that, in theory, bright coherent beams can extend into the soft and hard x-ray regions of the spectrum for the first time, essentially solving the phase matching problem in extreme nonlinear optics. Experimentally, we demonstrated bright high harmonic beams in the water window region of the spectrum and around the L-edges of magnetic materials - at the magnetic heart of the matter - for the first time. Most importantly, scaling of the macroscopic x-ray yield is surprisingly favorable as the laser wavelength is increased and the generated harmonic wavelength decreases. The macroscopic physics of phase matching requires higher gas pressures, which compensates for the poor microscopic single-atom high harmonic yield due to quantum diffusion of the rescattering electron wavepacket during the longer time spent in the continuum between ionization and recombination. Extrapolating this approach further, bright ultrafast harmonics can extend even into the hard x-ray region of the spectrum, promising to realize the coherent tabletop version of the Roentgen X-ray tube. This will enable atomic-site-specific electron dynamics in molecules, materials or at surfaces to be captured in their characteristic time scales, as well as opening up applications bio-imaging of thick samples without the need for labeling or sectioning. Finally, the ultrabroad supercontinua can support coherent pulses as short as few attoseconds, and possibly even zeptosecond pulses in the near future. \\[4pt] [1] T. Popmintchev et al., ``Phase matched upconversion of coherent ultrafast laser light into the soft and hard x-ray regions of the spectrum'', PNAS 106, 10516 (2009). \\[0pt] [2] T. Popmintchev et al., ``The Attosecond Nonlinear Optics of Bright Coherent X-Ray Generation'', Nature Photonics 4, 822 (2010). Featured on cover. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 3:00PM - 3:30PM |
C6.00003: Many-body physics with ultracold bosons in 1D geometry Invited Speaker: I describe a series of experiments with quantum gases of strongly interacting atoms confined to one-dimensional (1D) geometry. The external confinement strongly affects the atomic scattering process and gives rise to a new type of scattering resonances, so-called confinement-induced resonances. One such resonance allows us to tune and dynamically control interparticle interactions in 1D and to access the regimes of strong repulsion or attraction. In particular, we observe the formation of a new highly-correlated quantum many-body phase called the Super-Tonks-Girardeau gas. This excited phase in 1D is stabilized in the presence of attractive interactions by maintaining and strengthening quantum correlations across the confinement-induced resonance. In a second experiment we drive a novel type of quantum phase transition, the ``pinning transition,'' by adding a shallow periodic potential to a strongly-interacting 1D system. For sufficiently strong interactions, the transition is induced by adding an arbitrarily weak optical lattice along the longitudinal direction of the 1D system, leading to immediate pinning of the particles. We map out the phase diagram and find that our measurements in the strongly interacting regime agree well with a quantum field description based on the exactly solvable sine-Gordon model. We trace the phase boundary all the way to the weakly interacting regime where we find good agreement with the predictions of the 1D Bose-Hubbard model. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 3:30PM - 4:00PM |
C6.00004: First practical application of quantum weak measurements, used to perform the first experimental investigations of the Spin Hall Effect of Light Invited Speaker: I will talk about the first observation of the spin Hall effect of light (SHEL), an effect so basic yet unsuspected until 2004, which entails tiny (sub-wavelength) spin-dependent transverse displacements of a beam of light when it changes its propagation direction in a generic fashion. The effect is the photonic version of the spin Hall effect in electronic systems, indicating the universality of the effect for particles of different nature. A novel metrological technique is developed for the observation of the effect, using the concepts of quantum weak measurements as an amplification tool. This technique genuinely enabled the first measurements of the effect by enhancing the original displacements by nearly four orders of magnitude. In subsequent experiments we attained sensitivity to displacements as small as $\sim$5 pm. Being quite a general technique, the weak measurement enhancement results stimulated more research into applications of the effect in a variety of settings. The original SHEL measurements were performed at an air-glass interface, but I will also talk about our recent work on observing SHEL in media with a smoothly varying index of refraction where the photon trajectories are determined by a Lorentz-type force due to an effective magnetic monopole in momentum space. [Preview Abstract] |
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