We review our recent theoretical advances in quantum information and many body physics with cold atoms in various external potential, such as harmonic potential, kagome optical lattice, triangular optical lattice, and honeycomb lattice. The many body physics of cold atom in harmonic potential is investigated in the frame of mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Then the quantum phase transition and strongly correlated effect of cold atoms in triangular optical lattice, and the interacting Dirac fermions on honeycomb lattice, are investigated by using cluster dynamical mean-field theory and continuous time quantum Monte Carlo method. We also study the quantum spin Hall effect in the kagome optical lattice.
The effect of anisotropy caused by a confining potential on the properties of fermionic cold atoms in a triangular optical lattice is systematically investigated by using the dynamical cluster approximation combined with the continuous time quantum Monte-Carlo algorithm. The quantum phase diagrams which reflect the temperature-interaction relation and the competition between the anisotropic parameter and the interaction are presented with full consideration of the anisotropy of the system. Our results show that the system undergoes a transition from Fermi liquid to Mott insulator when the repulsive interaction reaches a critical value. The Kondo effect also can be observed in this system and the pseudogap is suppressed at low temperatures due to the Kondo effect. A feasible experiment protocol to observe these phenomena in an anisotropic triangular optical lattice with cold atoms is proposed, in which the hopping terms are closely related to the lattice confining potential and the atomic interaction can be adjusted via the Feshbach resonance.
The optical conductivity of a trilayer graphene is studied using the Kubo-Greenwood formula. We calculate the real part of the diagonal optical conductivity of an ABA-stacked trilayer graphene with different Fermi energies. The optical conductivity arises from interband matrix elements of the electric current operator involving the transitions from the occupied states to the unoccupied ones. We study the dependence of the real part of the diagonal optical conductivity on the photon energy, and the role of the transitions.
The spin Hall and spin Nernst effects in graphene are studied based on Green's function formalism. We calculate intrinsic contributions to spin Hall and spin Nernst conductivities in the Kane-Mele model with various structures. When both intrinsic and Rashba spin-orbit interactions are present, their interplay leads to some characteristics of the dependence of spin Hall and spin Nernst conductivities on the Fermi level. When the Rashba spin--orbit interaction is smaller than intrinsic spin-orbit coupling, a weak kink in the conductance appears. The kink disappears and a divergence appears when the Rashba spin-orbit interaction enhances. When the Rashba spin-orbit interaction approaches and is stronger than intrinsic spin-orbit coupling, the divergence becomes more obvious.
By using a unified theory of the formation of various types of vector-solitons in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates with tunable interactions, we obtain a family of exact vector-soliton solutions for the coupled nonlinear Schrodinger equations. Moreover, the Bogoliubov equation shows that there exists stable dark soliton in specific situa- tions. Our results open up new ways in considerable experimental interest for the quantum control of multi-component Bose Einstein condensates.
A laser power feedback control system that features fast response, large-scale performance, low noise, and excellent stability is presented. Some essential points used for optimization are described. Primary optical lattice experiments are given as examples to show the performance of this system. With these performance characteristics, the power control system is useful for applications in cold atom physics and precision measurements.
We review our recent theoretical advances in the dynamics of Bose Einstein condensates with tunable interactions using Feshbach resonance and external potential. A set of analytic and numerical methods for Gross Pitaevskii equations are developed to study the nonlinear dynamics of BoseEinstein condensates. Analytically, we present the integrable conditions for the Gross Pitaevskii equations with tunable interactions and external potential, and obtain a family of exact analytical solutions for one- and two-component Bose Einstein condensates in one and two-dimensional cases. Then we apply these models to investigate the dynamics of solitons and collisions between two solitons. Numerically, the stability of the analytic exact solutions are checked and the phenomena, such as the dynamics and modulation of the ring dark soliton and vector-soliton, soliton conversion via Feshbach resonance, quantized soliton and vortex in quasi-two-dimensional are also investigated. Both the exact and numerical solutions show that the dynamics of Bose Einstein condensates can be effectively controlled by the Feshbach resonance and external potential, which offer a good opportunity for manipulation of atomic matter waves and nonlinear excitations in Bose Einstein condensates.
We investigate the particle-hole pair excitations of dipolar molecules in an optical lattice, which can be described with an extended Bose-Hubbard model. For strong enough dipole-dipole interaction, the particle-hole pair excitations can form bound states in one and two dimensions. With decreasing dipole-dipole interaction, the energies of the bound states increase and merge into the particle-hole continuous spectrum gradually. The existence regions, the energy spectra and the wave functions of the bound states are carefully studied and the symmetries of the bound states are analyzed with group theory. For a given dipole-dipole interaction, the number of bound states varies in momentum space and a number distribution of the bound states is illustrated. We also discuss how to observe these bound states in future experiments.
A method that uses radio frequency (RF) spectroscopy to evaluate the alignment of an optical lattice is proposed and demonstrated. A one-dimensional (1D) optical lattice is applied along the long axis of a cigar-shaped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a magnetic trap. The RF spectra of condensates with and without the optical lattice are analyzed, measured, and compared with the condition in which the lattice is misaligned with the BEC. The proposed method greatly optimizes the optical alignments of the lattices.