Quantum Shake

Content: 

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) — There they were, in all their weird quantum glory: ultracold lithium atoms in the optical trap operated by UC Santa Barbara undergraduate student Alec Cao and his colleagues in David Weld’s atomic physics group. Held by lasers in a regular, lattice formation and “driven” by pulses of energy, these atoms were doing crazy things.

“It was a bit bizarre,” Weld said. “Atoms would get pumped in one direction. Sometimes they would get pumped in another direction. Sometimes they would tear apart and make these structures that looked like DNA.”

These new and unexpected behaviors were the results of an experiment conducted by Cao, Weld and colleagues to push the boundaries of our knowledge of the quantum world. The outcomes? New directions in the field of dynamical quantum engineering, and a tantalizing path toward a link between classical and quantum physics.

CONTACT:
Sonia Fernandez
(805) 893-4765
sonia.fernandez@ucsb.edu
Shelly Leachman

(805) 893-8726
shelly.leachman@ucsb.edu

News Date: 

Wednesday, September 9, 2020