Introduction to quantum mechanics, part 3
2nd year of the physics bachelor, University of Amsterdam (14 hours) · Florian Schreck
Follows chapters 5 to 7 of Griffiths' Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (2nd edition).
Teaching
Lectures and courses by members of the lab.
Members of the lab teach in the physics bachelor and master programmes of the University of Amsterdam and at summer schools. Slides, notes and recordings of our lectures are here, free to use for learning.
Bose–Einstein condensation
Physics master, University of Amsterdam, autumn 2014 to 2023, together with Gora Shlyapnikov's lecture on the theory of BEC · Florian Schreck
How a Bose–Einstein condensate of ultracold atoms is made in the lab. The first three lectures derive the basics of atom–light interaction, lectures 4 and 5 cover laser cooling and trapping, lecture 6 evaporative cooling and Bose–Einstein condensation, and lecture 7 how BEC properties are measured, ending with a look at our own research.
Video recordings 1a: introduction 1b: lab tour 2 3a 3b 4 5 6 7 Recorded in November and December 2023.
- Mathematica demonstrations and figures (2 MB)
- Rapid adiabatic passage, Mathematica (0.6 MB)
- Detailed calculations for lectures 3 and 4, PDF
Contents of the lectures
- Lecture 1
- Ultracold quantum gases: What? Why? How?
- Labtour
- Lecture 2
- Atom-laser interaction
- Bloch sphere
- Lecture 3
- Dressed state picture
- Optical Bloch equations
- Detecting an ultracold gas
- Lecture 4
- Light forces
- Molasses cooling
- Sisyphus cooling
- Lecture 5
- Atomic beam oven
- Zeeman slower
- Magneto-optical trap
- Technology for laser cooling
- Lecture 6
- Optical dipole trap
- Magnetic trap
- Trap technology
- Evaporative cooling
- Characterizing a BEC
- Lecture 7
- Characterizing a BEC
- Our research: Laser cooling to BEC; Towards RbSr molecules
Quantum simulation with ultracold gases
Physics master, University of Amsterdam, spring 2015, together with Gora Shlyapnikov's lecture on the theory of Fermi quantum gases · Florian Schreck
How ultracold quantum gases are used to study quantum physics in the spirit of quantum simulation: crystalline solids, magnetism, artificial gauge fields and Fermi gases.
The PowerPoint presentation (more than 600 slides) is available on request: write to schreck@strontiumBEC.com.
Contents of the lectures
- Introduction: Quantum simulation
- Part 1: Simulation of crystalline solids
- Lattices: dispersion relation, Brillouin zone, Bloch states, Wannier states, Bloch oscillations, experimental realization
- Derivation of Hubbard Hamiltonian, discussion of approximations
- Superfluid to Mott-Insulator phase transition: phase diagram obtained by Gutzwiller Ansatz
- Experimental observation: momentum distributions, measurement of gap, precise comparison with numerical solution
- Observation of Mott shells by absorption imaging
- Quantum gas microscopy: observation of superfluid to Mott-insulator phase transition
- Part 2: Magnetism
- Origin of magnetism in solid state, types of exchange interaction
- Observation of super-exchange interaction
- Quantum dynamics of spin impurity observed with quantum gas microscope
- Quantum simulation of antiferromagnetic spin chains
- Changing the tunnel matrix element by shaking
- Quantum simulation of frustrated classical magnetism in triangular optical lattice
- Part 3: Artificial gauge fields
- Artificial gauge fields by rotation, detection of vortices
- The quantum Hall effect
- Artificial gauge fields and Berry phase
- BEC in a uniform light-induced vector potential
- Synthetic magnetic fields for ultracold neutral atoms
- Optical lattice with magnetic flux
- The Harper-Hofstadter Hamiltonian and the Hofstadter butterfly
- Realizing the Harper-Hofstadter Hamiltonian
- Spin-orbit coupling
- Part 4: Fermi gases
- Creation and detection
- Interaction tuning: Feshbach resonances
- BEC-BCS crossover: what is it? Measuring the pairing gap
- The unitary Fermi gas: equation of state, second sound
- Polarons
Atom lasers
FOMO summer school, Arcachon, September 2016 · Florian Schreck
From the first atom lasers to continuous ones: what an atom laser is, how it is made, and why a continuously operating one is worth the effort.
Florian Schreck was the Faculty of Science's lecturer in the spotlight in 2017 (UvA news, archived copy).