BEC2: Sodium/Lithium Experiments with Optical Lattices
Welcome to the website for BEC2! In this space you will find our latest experimental results on ultracold fermionic Li-6, highlights of our lab's history, and more. We will continuously update this site!
For an overview of the work of the Ketterle group, please go to Alkali Quantum Gases @ MIT. Follow the links to other labs in Ketterle group: BEC3 "The Science Chamber" and BEC4/5 "The Rubidium/Lithium Boson Lab". We are part of the Center for Ultracold Atoms , which is a National Science Foundation Physics Frontier Center for ultracold atoms and quantum gases research.
BEC2 team (April 2012) from left to right: Wujie Huang, Wolfgang Ketterle, Edward Su, Christian Sanner, Jonathon Gillen and Aviv Keshet. Not in picture: Junru Li, Boris Shteynas
Latest News
We have built a state of art machine for ultracold fermionic experiments. Here's an overview of our progress:
Oct, 2013: We have 3D optical lattices!
Mar, 2013: We are optimizing Li MOT and sympathetically cooling Li with Na atoms!
Dec, 2012: We have loaded Na BEC into optical dipole trap!
Sep, 2012: New graduate student Junru Li joined our lab!
Aug 24, 2012: Aviv Keshet is graduated! Congratulations, Dr. Keshet!
Aug, 2012: We have made Na BEC in the new machine!
June, 2012: Christian Sanner is graduated! Best of luck to your life back at Germany, Dr. Sanner!
Dec, 2011: Na-Li dual MOT in the new machine.
Latest Results
August 9, 2011: Our recent spin fluctuation measurements on a repulsive Fermi gas indicate that the itinerant ferromagnetism doesn't occur in such a system. Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 240404 (2012)
January 6, 2011: Our paper on Speckle Imaging of spin fluctuations in a strongly interacting Fermi gas gets published in Physical Review Letters. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 010402 (2011)
July 19, 2010: Our paper on suppression of density fluctuations for a degenerate Fermi gas gets published in Physical Review Letter. Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 040402 (2010) This article is selected as Editors' Suggestions, and also see accompanying Physics Viewpoint.
Optical lattice emulator
We are currently part of the DARPA Optical Lattice Emulator program, which seeks to use fermionic atoms in optical lattices to model crystalline solids. We have chosen the 3-D Fermi-Hubbard model as our model Hamiltonian, and are working towards creating an anti-ferromagnetically ordered state of atoms in the optical lattice. See this popular article for an overview of the OLE program.
Mott-insulating and anti-ferromagnetic states
We are trying to create an anti-ferromagnetically (AFM) ordered state of repulsively interacting fermions in our 3-D optical lattice. To get to this state we need to achieve temperatures of around 3.5% of the Fermi temperature. At higher temperatures we first encounter the Mott-insulating (MI) state. At the moment we are working on characterizing the MI state as well as on cooling and detection techniques that will enable us to observe the AFM state.
Contact Information
Office Room 26-259
Lab Room 26-256
Center for Ultracold Atoms
Research Laboratory of Electronics
32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
MA 02139, USA
617.253.5926---Tel
617.253.4876---Fax