Speaker: Gyu-Boong Jo UC Berkeley
Time: 2012-12-20 14:00-2012-12-20 15:00
Venue: FIT 1-222
Abstract:
Quantum materials exhibiting collective and emergent phenomena are of central interest in modern quantum and material science. Ultracold atoms in optical lattices provide an ideal test bed to simulate a strongly-correlated electronic state by tailoring the properties of matters. In this talk, I will present cold-atom based realization of the two-dimensional kagome lattice offering a defect-free and highly tunable platform in contrast to solid-state kagome materials. This allows us to explore the geometry-induced Superfluid-Mott insulator phase transition between triangular and kagome geometries. I will also talk about on-going efforts to address the non-trivial superfluidity in flat-band and higher orbital atoms in this tunable superlattice. I will conclude by discussing ways to extend this cold-atom based kagome lattice, in order to address several outstanding questions in many-body physics such as quantum spin liquids, quantum magnetism, and topological order. Our efforts can be regarded as the quantum simulation of the real electronic material.
Short Bio:
Gyu-Boong received his BA in physics and Mathematics from Seoul National University in 2003. He performed doctoral studies of quantum magnetism and coherence in degenerate Bosonic and Fermionic gases of ultracold atoms at MIT. After completing a Ph.d in 2010 with Prof. Wolfgang Ketterle and Prof. David E. Pritchard, he has been working with Prof. Dan M. Stamper-Kurn at UC Berkeley pursuing the quantum simulation of exotic phases in a tunable kagome lattice mimicking real strongly-correlated materials.
