Fifty years ago, Philip Anderson (1958 Phys. Rev. 109 1492 ) predicted that the introduction of impurities or defects in a conducting material could induce a sudden transition from conductor to insulator. He suggested that electrons that would move freely inside the solid do not simply diffuse on the defects as expected for classical particles but can be completely stopped. Instead of a simple decrease in the conductivity, a total cancellation of the conductivity occurs past a certain amount of disorder. The origin of this phase transition is a fundamental quantum phenomenon, interference between the many quantum amplitudes associated with various trajectories of the electron in the disordered material. This original result is essentially based on a mathematical argument, and after fifty years there are still many open questions (Lagendijk et al 2009 Phys. Today 62 (8) 24 ). This article provides an overview of how ultracold atoms, when combined with complex optical potential, can provide powerful tools to answer some of them (Aspect and Inguscio 2009 Phys. Today 62 (8) 30 ).
Fifty years ago, Philip Anderson (1958 Phys. Rev. 109 1492 ) predicted that the introduction of impurities or defects in a conducting material could induce a sudden transition from conductor to insulator. He suggested that electrons that would move freely inside the solid do not simply diffuse on the defects as expected for classical particles but can be completely stopped. Instead of a simple decrease in the conductivity, a total cancellation of the conductivity occurs past a certain amount of disorder. The origin of this phase transition is a fundamental quantum phenomenon, interference between the many quantum amplitudes associated with various trajectories of the electron in the disordered material. This original result is essentially based on a mathematical argument, and after fifty years there are still many open questions (Lagendijk et al 2009 Phys. Today 62 (8) 24 ). This article provides an overview of how ultracold atoms, when combined with complex optical potential, can provide powerful tools to answer some of them (Aspect and Inguscio 2009 Phys. Today 62 (8) 30 ).
The transport of quantum particles in non ideal mate- rial media (eg the conduction of electrons in an imperfect crystal) is strongly affected by scattering from impurities of the medium. Even for a weak disorder, semi-classical theories, such as those based on the Boltzmann equation for matter-waves scattering from the impurities, often fail to describe transport properties and full quantum approaches are necessary. The properties of the quan- tum systems are of fundamental interest as they show intriguing and non-intuitive phenomena that are not yet fully understood such as Anderson localization, percola- tion, disorder-driven quantum phase transitions and the corresponding Bose-glass or spin-glass phases. Under- standing quantum transport in amorphous solids is one of the main issues in this context, related to electric and thermal conductivities. Ultracold atomic gases can now be considered to re- visit the problem of quantum conductivity and quan- tum transport under unique control possibilities. Dilute atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) and degener- ate Fermi gases (DFG) are produced routinely taking advantage of the recent progress in cooling and trap- ping of neutral atoms. Transport has been widely in- vestigated in controlled potentials with no defects, for instance periodic potentials (optical lattices). Controlled disordered potentials can also be produced with various techniques such as the use of magnetic traps designed on atomic chips with rough wires, the use of localized impurity atoms, the use of radio-frequency fields or the use of optical potentials. This recently lead to the ob- servation of the Anderson Localisation of a BEC and the measurement of the diffusion coefficient of a 2D gaz in the presence of disorder.
The transport of quantum particles in non ideal material media (eg the conduction of electrons in an imperfect crystal) is strongly affected by scattering from impurities of the medium. Even for a weak disorder, semi-classical theories, such as those based on the Boltzmann equation for matter-waves scattering from the impurities, often fail to describe transport properties and full quantum approaches are necessary. The properties of the quantum systems are of fundamental interest as they show intriguing and non-intuitive phenomena that are not yet fully understood such as Anderson localization, percolation, disorder-driven quantum phase transitions and the corresponding Bose-glass or spin-glass phases. Understanding quantum transport in amorphous solids is one of the main issues in this context, related to electric and thermal conductivities. Ultracold atomic gases can now be considered to revisit the problem of quantum conductivity and quantum transport under unique control possibilities. Dilute atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) and degenerate Fermi gases (DFG) are produced routinely taking advantage of the recent progress in cooling and trapping of neutral atoms. Transport has been widely investigated in controlled potentials with no defects, for instance periodic potentials (optical lattices). Controlled disordered potentials can also be produced with various techniques such as the use of magnetic traps designed on atomic chips with rough wires, the use of localized impurity atoms, the use of radio-frequency fields or the use of optical potentials. This recently lead to the observation of the Anderson Localisation of a BEC and the measurement of the diffusion coefficient of a 2D gaz in the presence of disorder.
Disorder plays a fundamental role in many fields of physics such as condensed-matter physics, optics, acoustics, or atomic physics. It is responsible for a number of surprizing effects, such as Anderson localization, metal-insulator transitions and intriguing glass phases. The inherent complexity of disordered systems poses outstanding challenges to the full understanding of these phenomena. In the last years, disorder has emerged as a major line of research in the field of ultracold quantum gases. The latter offer fascinating perspectives to better understand the effects of disorder in quantum systems, thanks not only to an unprecedented control of parameters, but also to their original properties. This Habilitation thesis reviews our recent contributions to the theory of disordered quantum gases along three main lines: - Anderson localization in disordered quantum gases; - Disorder in interacting Bose gases; - Simulating extended Hubbard and spin models with ultracold gases. On the one hand, we propose and analyze experiments aiming at realizing quantum simulators to address open questions of fundamental importance for the field of disordered systems. In this respect, we show that quantum gases offer promising perspectives. On the other hand, we lead prospective works, which in particular show that quantum gases have original properties. They hence shed new light on issues of broad interest in the field of disordered systems.
Ultra-cold atomic gases by themselves and in combination with disorder are a highly active and innovative field of research. Since the first expenmental realization of Bose.-Elnstein condensation in 1995, ultra-cold quantum gases have become a powerful tool to study condensed matter, quantum optics, and quantum Infonnation problems. Disordered systems are been extremely difficult to study, but recent advances of ultra-cold experiments have brought about new tools and approaches to tackle these problems as well. In particular, urtra-cold quantum gases can be subject to controlled spatially disordered potentials. Breakthroughts like the seminal observation of Anderson localization in 2008 illustrate the powerful experimental control of quantum systems. There are currently two main approaches to realizing controlled disordered potentials for ultra-cold atomi gases: incommensurate '!lulti-chromatic lattices and speckle radiation. Altematlve approaches using holographic masks, rapidly oscillating laser beams and secondary lattices xJng scatterers in space are currently being studied by several groups. The sum of these innovative techniques that aim at realizing controlled disorder l'uels studies on disordered ultra-cold systems - In particular, the between interactions and disorder in non-interacting Bose- and Fenni systems, and the creation of glass states together with associated quantum phase transitions are currently attracting a lot of attention this thesis reports on the applicability and robustness of a related phenomenon called disorder-induced order. In essence, it is the process by which certain systems order when a specific type of controlled disorder is applied. In absence of disorder, the systems we consider present a contlnuous vvymmetry, e.g. a rotational U(1) symmetry as In the ferromagnetic XV model. If we apply a homogenous magnetic field along a given direction of the X I lane, all spins will align roughly in this direction. If we replace this homogenous field by a spatially randomly oscillating field in the same direction at low temperature, the system tends to avoid this external field and orders in a direction orthogonal to the field, inside the XV plane. The effect turns out to be robust enough to occur with regularly oscillating fields (e.g. staggered fields, sinuSOlda1ty oscillating fields), pseudo-random fields (realizable by uperposlng optical lattices), and random fields (as created by speckle plates), However, we stress that these disordered fields must not be dlstnbuted according to the continuous symmetry of the system but restricted to a subspace e.g. in the XV model, the spins can orient in any direction of the XV plane - and, if the disordered field is oriented WIth random angles, the system WIll not magnetize. The effect only occurs if the disorder is always along a given direction with random orientation. We study several configurations of disorder-induced order numerically and analytically, and present possible expenmental realizations for the classical XY system as an illustration of the basic Intuition of the effect IPRB 74 224448 (2006)], a system of two Raman-coupled Bose-Elnstein condensates, where disorder allows to control the relative phase of the two condensates IPRl 10030403 (2008)) superfluid BCS pairs in presence of a diatomic reservoir, where disorder fixes the complex phase of the painng function IEPl 86 26004 (2009)], and the quantum XY spin chain, where disorder leads to spontaneous magnetization in the direction orthogonat to the disordered fietd [PRA, accepted] Other systems in which we expect disorder-induced order to occur, not discussed in thiS thesis, are spinor condensates and possibly systems with synthetic gauge fields. Finally, there are reports of randomness-induced XV Ofdering in a graphene quantum Hall ferromagnet (PRl 98 156801 (2007) as well as disorder-induced ordering of superfluid 3HE-A in aerogel [JETPl84 455 (2006), Jl TP 150453 (2008).
Quantum simulation is one of the most active trends in ultracold-atom physics. A quantum simulator is a system that mimics the dynamics of another system; the advantage being that the quantum simulator is simpler than the original, either from the experimental or the theoretical point of view (or both).The Anderson model is a paradigm for quantum disorder, originally introduced in the helm of solid-state physics; however, quantum solid-state disordered systems are very difficult to study experimentally, and even numerically (except in the one-dimensional case). The kicked rotor is a paradigm for classical and quantum Hamiltonian chaos, essentially because it is very easy to simulate it in a computer. Its quantum realization with ultracold atoms is also relatively simple, and is a “clean” (e.g. from decoherence) and controllable system. Amazingly, the quantum kicked rotor can be mathematically mapped onto the Anderson model. It is thus a quite subtle quantum simulator of the physics of disordered systems. In this talk I will describe a series of experiments we have performed in Lille taking advantage of the correspondence between disordered condensed matter systems and the atomic kicked rotor to investigate experimentally in great detail the Anderson metal-insulator transition. I will discuss the new possibilities opened by evolutions of this system, in particular by introducing nonlinearity via atom-atom interactions.
This chapter starts with an introduction to disordered systems, with an emphasis on disorder in condensed matter, and discusses such phenomena as the Anderson localization, and quantum phases such as with Bose glass. It then turns to various experimental realizations of disorder in ultracold atomic gases. The chapter focuses on disordered Bose-Einstein condensates and the phenomenon of Anderson localization in speckle or quasi-periodic, quasi-random potential. It moves on to disordered ultracold fermionic systems, and disordered ultracold Bose–Fermi (B–F) and Bose–Bose (B–B) mixtures. Finally, the chapter examines spin glasses (providing a brief presentation of the mean field theory of Parisi, and the droplet model) and disorder induced order.