Ultracold fermionic atoms in disordered potentials

Kondov, Stanimir

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/46688 Copy

Description

Title

Ultracold fermionic atoms in disordered potentials

Author(s)

Kondov, Stanimir

Issue Date

2014-01-16T17:59:07Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

DeMarco, Brian L.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Kwiat, Paul G.

Committee Member(s)

• DeMarco, Brian L.
• Vishveshwara, Smitha
• Cooper, S. Lance

Department of Study

Physics

Discipline

Physics

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• ultracold
• Fermion
• potassium
• Anderson
• metal-to-insulator transition
• Hubbard

Abstract

This thesis describes the construction of an experimental apparatus to study disorder physics using ultracold fermionic atomic gases. We use this apparatus to realize 3D Anderson localization for the first time for quantum matter waves. We provide the first measurement of how the mobility edge—a hallmark of 3-dimensionality—and of localization lengths depend on the disorder strength. In a second experimental study, we add an optical lattice to the disorder potential to realize the disordered Fermi-Hubbard model, which is a minimal model for strongly correlated electronic solids. The interplay of interactions and disorder is investigated. We find an Anderson-like disorder-driven metal-to-insulator transition as well as disorder-induced breaking of the Mott gap in the strongly interacting regime.

Graduation Semester

2013-12

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/46688

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2013 Stanimir Kondov

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