10/10/2014 14:00 – 15:00

Speaker : Gunes Soyler, Max Planck Institute, Dresden, Germany

Place : Department of Physics Seminar Room

Abstract

The possibility to introduce light-matter coupling and long range non-linear photon-photon interactions is a high-ranking subject with significant theoretical and experimental attention. Combined techniques from atomic physics and quantum optics can be used to develop precise tools for controlling states of matter and light. To investigate the regions of phase space which were previously not accessible, we have established an effective model of strongly correlated two component bosonic (atom-photon) system and study it in a ladder geometry. Our numerical tool allows us to perform first principles calculations via large scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations.

We observe a series of interesting phases such as a photonic quantum liquid, an excitation crystal and a spin density wave of excitations. Furthermore, in this talk, I will also describe the Monte Carlo technique and give another example of its application in cold atom systems with dipolar interactions.