Fachbereich Physik
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Research activities
Our group explores the interaction of light and neutral atoms at temperatures where the wave nature of the atoms becomes important. Our work is motivated both by the desire to understand fundamental phenomena of quantum mechanics as well as learning to handle clean quantum mechanical systems in the lab on an engineering level. Our interest in light-matter interactions frequently creates the need for novel precision laser tools. This leads us to give significant attention to the development of project-specific laser sources.
Cavity QED with ultracold atomic ensembles
A new exciting aspect of light-matter interactions arises, when large samples of cold atoms are subjected to optical cavities with extreme values of the finesse. In this regime collective long-range forces between distant atoms yield a rich non-linear dynamics. Complex behaviour as self-organization, quantum phase transitions and quantum mechanical squeezing arise in a fully controlled physical environment.
Applications range from quantum information processing to new cavity-based laser cooling mechanisms, which can work for particles with complex internal structure, e.g., molecules. Tailored atom-cavity systems may also be used as efficient analogue simulators for complex many-body systems from other branches of physics.