BEC 4: Rubidium in Optical Lattices
Welcome to the wiki of BEC 4! Our research focuses on exploring the world of ultracold atoms, where many new and interesting phenomena occur.
BEC 4 is only one part of the larger group of Professor Wolfgang Ketterle. For an overview of the Ketterle group and all the exciting things happening, see here.
We are also a part of the Center for Ultracold Atoms, which is a National Science Foundation Physics Frontier Center. Check out all the awesome science happening around the CUA!
This site is being continuously updated. Check back soon for more information!
Latest News
March 18, 2021: Our recent experimental result, “Tunable Single-Ion Anisotropy in Spin-1 Models Realized with Ultracold Atoms” has been accepted to PRL!
September 20, 2019: Our new graduate student Enid M. Cruz-Colón joins the group. Welcome!
October 1, 2018: Dr. Julius de Hond joins BEC4 as our postdoc. Welcome!
August 10, 2018: Our new graduate student Jinggang Xiang arrives! Welcome!
Older News
May 16, 2017: Congratulations to Dr. Colin Kennedy for successfully defending his thesis! Find the text of "Creating Novel Quantum States of Ultracold Bosons in Optical Lattices" in the Publications section.
December 28, 2016: Our recent paper, "Coherence Times of Bose-Einstein Condensates beyond the Shot-Noise Limit via Superfluid Shielding" is out in PRL and has been selected for a synopsis in Physics! Be sure to also check out the MIT news article on the paper.
October 27, 2016: Have you ever wondered how interactions can enable more precise measurements? Then check out our recent paper, "Coherence Times of Bose-Einstein Condensates beyond the Shot-Noise Limit via Superfluid Shielding" where we combine a spin-dependent force with an interacting, two-component BEC!
August 10, 2015: Our most recent experimental result, "Observation of Bose-Einstein Condensation in a Strong Synthetic Magnetic Field" is out today in Nature Physics. Also be sure to check out the very nice News and Views article by Tomoki Ozawa on our paper, as well as our feature in MIT News!
June 3, 2015: "Weyl Points in three-dimensional optical lattices: synthetic magnetic monopoles in momentum space" is published in PRL! Congratulations to our colleagues Tena and Hrvoje at the University of Zagreb and Marin and Ling here at MIT.
March 27, 2015: "Observation of Bose-Einstein Condensation in a Strong Synthetic Magnetic Field" is now out on the arXiv. We have observed the ground state of a lattice model with very strong synthetic magnetic fields – 1/2 magnetic flux quantum per unit cell – and we directly measure translational symmetry breaking! We also show that strong interactions can be added to the system, thereby setting the stage for investigations of the interplay of strong magnetic fields and strong interactions. Check it out here!
March 25, 2015: Our theory paper on cooling two component bosons in optical lattices and realizing magnetic states is out on the arXiv
December 24, 2014: "Weyl Points in three-dimensional optical lattices: synthetic magnetic monopoles in momentum space" is out on the arXiv!
December 11, 2014: "Scheme for generalized maximally localized Wannier functions in one dimension" is out on the arXiv, congratulations to our undergraduate student Yuri for carrying his lab project through to a nice conclusion!
November 25, 2013: "Spin-Orbit Coupling and Quantum Spin Hall Effect for Neutral Atoms without Spin Flips" is out today in Physical Review Letters.
October 28, 2013: Our research on the Harper Hamiltonian is featured in Physics World today!
October 28, 2013: "Realizing the Harper Hamiltonian with Laser-Assisted Tunneling in Optical Lattices" is out today in Physical Review Letters. See also the accompanying Physics Viewpoint for a nice overview of the research.
August 30, 2013: Our theory paper on realizing spin-orbit coupling and the spin Hall effect is out on the arxiv, here it is.
August 8, 2013: Our paper on realizing high synthetic magnetic fields is up on the arxiv, check it out!
May 15, 2013: Congratulations to Dr. Hiro Miyake for successfully defending his thesis! Check back soon for "Probing and Preparing Novel States of Quantum Degenerate Rubidium Atoms in Optical Lattices" to appear in the thesis section on the publications page, it is a fantastic read!
March 30, 2013: We are looking for new graduate students to join our rubidium lab (BEC 4) and bosonic lithium lab (BEC 5). If you are interested and are visiting for the Open House, please feel free to contact any one of us by email (contact info in the People section), or stop by and talk to us and we can give you lab tours. Our office is in room 26-269.
Funding
We acknowledge funding from the DARPA OLE program, AFOSR MURI, ARO MURI, NSF, and the Department of Defense.
"Spinning spins" - in-situ image of interaction induced dynamics in a two-component Rb BEC.
Atoms undergoing Bloch oscillations in an accelerated lattice.