[PAST EVENT] Physics Colloquium

April 18, 2014
4pm
Location
Small Hall, Room 122
300 Ukrop Way
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location
Abstract:
Cooling and probing matter at low temperatures has been a major driving force for condensed matter physics. It is a proven, powerful way to force nature to reveal its organizing principles for quantum many body systems. The lessons learned from low temperature physics such as symmetry breaking and topological order have permeated into the lexicon of other branches of physics and led to prototypical applications such as superconducting qubits. In this talk, I will briefly review the well known macroscopic quantum phenomena of superconductivity and superfluidity occurring from hundred kelvin to millikelvin, and then highlight a few milestone achievements of quantum gases of alkaline atoms which have pushed the temperature record from microkelvin, through nanokelvin, and now down to tens of picokelvin. Then I will focus on recent experimental progresses in producing quantum gases of molecules with electric dipole moments, and atoms with large magnetic dipole moments. Finally, I will present our theoretical results regarding novel quantum phases of matter in dipolar Fermi gases.