Description

Quantum transport phenomena are a major challenge for understanding the dynamical properties of coherent systems ranging from electronic materials to ultracold atomic gases. Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs), in particular, provide an ideal platform for exploring these effects thanks to the exceptional control over particle interactions, confinement geometry, and applied potentials.

This thesis will focus on the study of transport in a potassium BEC confined within a strongly restrictive two-dimensional optical lattice, enabling the realization of a set of quasi-one-dimensional systems (“atomic wires”). The application of a periodically modulated potential induces phenomena of dynamical localization in momentum space, whose properties are profoundly altered by quantum correlations in 1D and by controllable interactions using Feshbach resonances.

The main objective will be to characterize the emergence of “many-body dynamical localization” and to understand the mechanisms governing transport in these correlated out-of-equilibrium systems. The work will combine experimental development on the PhLAM potassium BEC platform, transport measurements, and comparison with recent theoretical models.

Skills required

Maser 2 or equivalent in theoretical and/or experimental physics, with a curriculum appropriate to the experimental project (quantumand/or condensed matter physics, lasers, optics, etc.). Experimental training, through Master 2 internships in fields related to the contextof the thesis, will be privileged.

Bibliography

https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.06573
https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.14339
https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.12510

Keywords

Ultracold quantum gases, Quantum transport, Anderson localization