Ultracold atoms
Cooling and trapping of dilute atomic gases by means of laser light (Physics Nobel Prize 1997) and magnetic fields has provided the first observation of Bose-Einstein condensation (Physics Nobel Prize 2001) with well-understood interactions and represents a major breakthrough in atomic and optical physics. Bose-Einstein condensates form a coherent matter wave source analogous to optical lasers, being as different from ordinary atomic beams as optical lasers are from light bulbs.
Examples of our research interests:
- The quantum properties of atoms in periodic optical lattice potentials
- Light-matter interactions in cold atomic gases and ultra-slow light propagation
- Defects, textures and superfluidity
On left, energetically stable particle-like solitons. In atomic condensates quantized vortex lines, rings and more complex singular structures could be imprinted using singular optical fields, providing a unique laboratory system for topologically non-trivial excitations that may closely resemble defects and textures encountered in relativistic quantum field theories and in the early Universe cosmology.
For more information contact Janne Ruostekoski.
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