QDev Seminar: Simon Baier

Ultracold magnetic atoms – the Erbium story

Ultracold atoms provide an experimental platform for the observation of peculiar quantum effects with a high level of control and tunability.  The first quantum degenerate gases of strongly magnetic lanthanide atoms six years ago opened up a new era on the experimental study of few- and many-body quantum phenomena with dipolar interactions.

Here, I will present our constantly increasing knowledge on the scattering properties and few- and many-body effects of ultracold magnetic erbium atoms. Universal dipolar scattering can be used to drive even identical fermions to the quantum degenerate regime. In addition the anisotropic and long-range character of the dipole-dipole interaction provides a competition of interactions enabling us to observe the deformation of the fermi surface as well as the formation of a macro-droplet state of bosonic erbium. By pinning the atoms into a three-dimensional optical lattice we further can study in detail the extended Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian including the onsite dipole-dipole interaction, as well as the nearest-neighbor interaction between two adjacent particles.