Manipulating Spinor Quantum Gases

Understanding quantum materials is essential for developing emerging quantum technologies. Many of the quantum materials belong to the class of quantum many-body systems, which consist of quantum particles interacting with each other. The challenge here lies in the fact that the study of quantum many-body systems is in general extremely difficult and, in fact, this serves as a strong motivation for the development of quantum computing. The research supported by this award will try to provide a deeper understanding of quantum materials via quantum simulation, that is, to use simple and easy-to-control laboratory quantum systems (e.g., ultracold neutral atoms or electrically charged atomic ions confined inside vacuum chambers) to simulate complicated quantum many-body systems. Such a quantum simulator could be regarded as a special-purpose quantum computer. In addition, through student involvement, this research will also contribute to education and technical training in the STEM fields. More specifically, this research program consists of two major thrusts. Thrust 1 concerns some peculiar properties of quantum many-body systems confined in one dimension. Such 1D systems often exhibit unusual quantum behavior not seen in higher dimensions. Physics to be explored include the transport dynamics that displays spin-charge coupling, as well as a proposal and investigation of particles obeying anyonic quantum statistics. Research in this Thrust can be implemented in cold atom experiments. Thrust 2 concerns with spin-boson coupling that can be readily realized in trapped ion experiments. The focus will be on the engineering of quantum entanglement, quantum squeezing, and quantum state preparation via engineered dissipation. These studies could have significant impact on quantum technologies across various platforms. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.