Optics and Atomic Physics

Godfrey Ejiroghene Akpojotor, W. Li

Laser cooling and trapping are now widely used in atomic physics laboratory. Interestingly, cold atoms in optical lattices are now used in advanced research to mimic phenomena in condensed matter physics and also as a test laboratory for the models of these phenomena. It follows then that it is now possible and necessary to advance the atomic physics laboratory by including the use of ultracold atoms in optical lattices for instructional contents of phenomena in condensed matter physics. In this paper, we have proposed how to introduce into the atomic physics laboratory the study of quantum magnetism with cold atoms in a double well optical lattice. In particular, we demonstrates how to compare the theoretical parameters of a spin Hamiltonian model with those extracted from spin ordering experiment.

B. Sh. Perkal'skis, Виктор Лаврентьевич Ларин, A. A. Eliseev

Franco Nori, J. Q. You

Superconducting circuits [1-11] based on Josephson junctions exhibit macroscopic quantum coherence and can behave like artificial atoms. Recent technological advances have made it possible to implement atomic-physics and quantum-optics experiments on a chip using these artificial atoms. This pedagogical talk presents a brief introduction to this rapidly advancing field. We not only discuss phenomena analogous to those in atomic physics and quantum optics with natural atoms, but also highlight those not occurring in natural atoms.

B. Sh. Perkal'skis, V. L. Larin

E. Arimondo, Wolfgang A. Ertmer, Ernst Maria Rasel +1 more

We describe the scientific content of the International School of Physics 'Enrico Fermi' on atom optics and space physics, organized by the Italian Physical Society in Varenna at Lake Como, Italy, 2–13 July 2007.