São investigadas, utilizando-se a distribuição grande canônica, as modificações introduzidas nas propriedades termodinâmicas e magnéticas de um sistema de bosons confinado por um potencial harmônico cilindricamente e esfericamente simétrico. O sistema apresenta condensação de B.E. somente no limite de confinamento fraco e a causa desta transição é devido a não homogeneidade do sistema, além da dependência da função densidade de estados próximos da energia mínima. Para este limite de confinamento fraco, são analisados ainda os limites de campo magnético forte ou fraco, apresentando comportamentos distintos, podendo ser comparados com o sistema de May ou com o sistema de gás ideal não confinado e com campo magnético nulo (sistema livre). A ordem da transição analisada constatando-se não ser de primeira ordem. O calor específico mostra uma descontinuidade finita na temperatura de transição. Abaixo desta temperatura de transição, o sistema apresenta uma magnetização espontânea, valendo então a lei B-H. / The modifications introduced in the thermodynamic and magnetic properties of a bosons system which is limited by a spherical and cylindrically harmonic potencial are investigated, using the grand canonical distribution. The system presents B.E. condensation only in the weak confinement limit and the cause of this transition is due to the non-homogeneity of the system in addition to the dependence of the density function of states near the minimum energy level. About this weak confinement limit, the limits o£ the strong or weak magnetic field are analysed too. The limit of the strong or weak magnetic field show distinctive behavior and they may be compared with the May\'s system or with the non-confined system of the ideal gas and with the null-magnetic field (free system). The order of this transition is analysed and it is verified as not being of the first order. The specific heat present a finite discontinuity in the transition temperature. Below this transition temperature, the system presents a spontaneous magnetization thus satisfying the B-H law.

Quasicrystals are long-range ordered and yet non-periodic. This interplay results in a wealth of intriguing physical phenomena, such as the inheritance of topological properties from higher dimensions, self-similarity, and the presence of non-trivial structure on all scales. The concept of aperiodic order has been extensively studied in mathematics and geometry, exemplified by the celebrated Penrose tiling. However, the understanding of physical quasicrystals (the vast majority of them are intermetallic compounds) is still incomplete owing to their complexity, regarding both growth processes and stability. Ultracold atoms in optical lattices offer an ideal, yet untested environment for investigating quasicrystals. Optical lattices, i.e. standing waves of light, allow the defect-free formation of a large variety of potential landscapes, including quasiperiodic geometries. In recent years, optical lattices have become one of the most successful tools in the large-scale quantum simulation of condensed-matter problems. This study presents the first experimental realisation of a two-dimensional quasicrystalline potential for ultracold atoms, based on an eightfold symmetric optical lattice. It is aimed at bringing together the fields of ultracold atoms and quasicrystals - and the more general concept of aperiodic order. The first part of this thesis introduces the theoretical aspects of aperiodic order and quasicrystalline structure. The second part comprises a detailed account of the newly designed apparatus that has been used to produce quantum-degenerate gases in quasicrystalline lattices. The third and final part summarises the matter-wave diffraction experiments that have been performed in various lattice geometries. These include one- and two-dimensional simple cubic lattices, one-dimensional quasiperiodic lattices, as well as two-dimensional quasicrystalline lattices. The striking self-similarity of this quasicrystalline structure has been directly observed, in close analogy to Shechtman's very first discovery of quasicrystals using electron diffraction. In addition, an in-depth study of the diffraction dynamics reveals the fundamental differences between periodic and quasicrystalline lattices, in excellent agreement with ab initio theory. The diffraction dynamics on short timescales constitutes a continuous-time quantum walk on a homogeneous four-dimensional tight-binding lattice. On the one hand, these measurements establish a novel experimental platform for investigating quasicrystals proper. On the other hand, ultracold atoms in quasicrystalline optical lattices are worth studying in their own right: Possible avenues include the observation many-body localisation and Bose glasses, as well as the creation of topologically non-trivial systems in higher dimensions.

Atom chips are devices used to magnetically trap and manipulate ultracold atoms and Bose-Einstein condensates near a surface. In particular, permanent magnetic film atom chips can allow very tight confinement and intricate magnetic field designs while circumventing technical current noise. Research described in this thesis is focused on the development of a magnetic film atom chip, the production of Bose-Einstein condensates near the film surface, the characterisation of the associated magnetic potentials using rf spectroscopy of ultracold atoms and the realisation of a precision sensor based on splitting Bose-Einstein condensates in a double-well potential. The atom chip itself combines the edge of a perpendicularly magnetised GdTbFeCo film with a machined silver wire structure. A mirror magneto-optical trap collects up to 5 x 108 87Rb atoms beneath the chip surface. The current-carrying wires are then used to transfer the cloud of atoms to the magnetic film microtrap and radio frequency evaporative cooling is applied to produce Bose-Einstein condensates consisting of 1 x 105 atoms. We have identified small spatial magnetic field variations near the film surface that fragment the ultracold atom cloud. These variations originate from inhomogeneity in the film magnetisation and are characterised using a novel technique based on spatially resolved radio frequency spectroscopy of the atoms to map the magnetic field landscape over a large area. The observations agree with an analytic model for the spatial decay of random magnetic fields from the film surface. Bose-Einstein condensates in our unique potential landscape have been used as a precision sensor for potential gradients. We transfer the atoms to the central region of the chip which produces a double-well potential. A single BEC is formed far from the surface and is then dynamically split in two by moving the trap closer to the surface. After splitting, the population of atoms in each well is extremely sensitive to the asymmetry of the potential and can be used to sense tiny magnetic field gradients or changes in gravity on a small spatial scale.

We present a detailed experimental investigation into Bose-Einstein condensates loaded into a one-dimensional optical standing wave at the Bragg condition. The main emphasis of this thesis is the experimental and theoretical investigation into Bragg spectroscopy performed on circularly accelerating Bose-Einstein condensates. The condensate undergoes circular micromotion in a magnetic time-averaged orbiting potential trap and the effect of this motion on the Bragg spectrum is analysed. A simple frequency modulation model is used to interpret the observed complex structure, and broadening effects are considered using numerical solutions to the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The second part of this thesis is an experimental investigation into the effect of nonlinearity on the non-adiabatic loading of a condensate into a optical lattice at the Brillouin zone boundary. Results of using a phase shifting technique to load a single Bloch band in the presence of strong interactions are presented. We observe a depletion of the condensed component, and we propose possible mechanisms for this result.

The Double-TOP trap is a new type of magnetic trap for neutral atoms, and is suitable for Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) and evaporatively cooled atoms. It combines features from two other magnetic traps, the Time-averaged Orbiting Potential (TOP) and Ioffe-Pritchard traps, so that a potential barrier can be raised in an otherwise parabolic potential. The cigar-like cloud of atoms (in the single-well configuration) is divided halfway along its length when the barrier is lifted. A theoretical model of the trap is presented. The double-well is characterised by the barrier height and well separation, which are weakly coupled. The accessible parameter space is found by considering experimental limits such as noise, yielding well separations from 230 [mu]m up to several millimetres, and barrier heights from 65 pK to 28 [mu]K (where the energies are scaled by Boltzmann�s constant). Potential experiments for Bose-Einstein condensates in this trap are considered. A Double-TOP trap has been constructed using the 3-coil style of Ioffe-Pritchard trap. Details of the design, construction and current control for these coils are given. Experiments on splitting thermal clouds were carried out, which revealed a tilt in the potential. Two independent BECs were simultaneously created by applying evaporative cooling to a divided thermal cloud. The Double-TOP trap is used to form a linear collider, allowing direct imaging of the interference between the s and d partial waves. By jumping from a double to single-well trap configuration, two ultra-cold clouds are launched towards a collision at the trap bottom. The available collision energies are centred on a d-wave shape resonance so that interference between the s and d partial waves is pronounced. Absorption imaging allows complete scattering information to be collected, and the images show a striking change in the angular distribution of atoms post-collision. The results are compared to a theoretical model, verifying that the technique is a useful new way to study cold collisions.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 156-168).

Thesis (M. S.)--Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. / Committee Chair: Kennedy, Brian; Committee Member: Chapman, Michael; Committee Member: Zangwill, Andrew. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Among the many examples of Bose condensation considered in physics, electron-hole-pair (exciton) condensation has maintained special interest because it has been difficult to realize experimentally, and because of controversy about condensate properties. In this thesis, we studied the various aspects of spontaneous symmetry broken state of exciton in bilayer using mean field theory. We calculated the photoluminescence of excitonic condensation created by laser. We developed a one-dimensional toy model of excitonic supercurrent using mean field theory plus non-equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) which give qualitatively consistent results with experiments. We proposed graphene bilayer as a novel system for excitonic condensation to occur and estimate it to exist even at temperature as high as room temperature. / text

In this dissertation, the applications of many-body physics in neutral bosons and electronic systems in transition metal oxides are discussed. In the first part of the thesis, I will introduce the concepts of Bose condensation, emphasize the significance of the order parameter in superfluids (macroscopic wave function), and its consequence such as the emergence of exotic vortex states under rotation. Dated back to the importance of the vortex dynamics in the properties of high T[subscript c] superconductors, people have introduced a dual vortex description to describe the dynamics of charged bosons in a magnetic field. Similarly, the dual description is adapted to the problems of neutral bosons under rotation. Based on that picture, vortices behave like charges in an effective magnetic field which has been known to demonstrate different quantum phases such as Wigner crystal phase, and fractional quantum Hall liquid phases depending on the relative fraction of the number of bosons and vortices. In this work, we would like to address the validity of the picture by low energy effective theory. We can identify the origin of the vortex masse and the parameter regimes in which the vortex dual description is appropriate. In the second part of the dissertation, density functional theory is used to describe the strongly correlated matters with local density approximation and local Hubbard U interaction(LDA+U). We are particularly interested in the interface states in the heterojunction systems of two different perovskite oxides. What we found is that the interface states can be engineered to appear in certain transitional metal oxide layers by controlling the number of positive and negative charged layers, leading to the formation of quantum wells in two dimension. This type of systems ignite the hope to search for broken symmetry states in the interface which can be tunable with chemical doping or electric field doping. Even room temperature superconducting state may or may not exist in the interface is still an intriguing issue. / text

No description available.