Jaksch, Dieter

Thursday Jan 23, 2014
Time: 16:00
Place: ETH Zurich, HIT K51
Host: Matthias Christandl

Few body Rydberg systems and the prospect for realizing strongly correlated electron gases

Dieter Jaksch
University of Oxford, UK

In the first part of my talk I will discuss the physics of two and three Rydberg atoms interacting via the dipole-dipole interaction. These systems can form micrometer sized molecules whose relative dynamics is governed by artificial gauge fields. In particular I will show that these fields exhibit magnetic monopoles and give rise to synthetic spin-orbit coupling. Furthermore, I will discuss three atom bound states that do not have a two atom equivalent.  The binding mechanism leading to these states is substantially different from Efimov physics. I will also show how the exaggerated properties of Rydberg atoms make these features directly observable using current experimental technology. In the second part of my talk I will discuss the prospect of forming strongly correlated electron gases starting from ultracold Rydberg atoms in optical lattices. I will present the exciting properties that such an electronic system might possess and discuss some of the major obstacles in realizing them.