Solid Light: Frontiers and applications of solid-state Cavity Quantum Electro-Dynamics. Our understanding of quantum mechanics directly fuels new technology. We are on the verge of a new revolution in technology, where the aspects of quantum physics that we haven't been able to understand are now within technological reach. Our concept of solid-light joins two of the most important branches of physics, and in so doing develops a new technology of diamond-based quantum processors that will be b ....Solid Light: Frontiers and applications of solid-state Cavity Quantum Electro-Dynamics. Our understanding of quantum mechanics directly fuels new technology. We are on the verge of a new revolution in technology, where the aspects of quantum physics that we haven't been able to understand are now within technological reach. Our concept of solid-light joins two of the most important branches of physics, and in so doing develops a new technology of diamond-based quantum processors that will be built in Australia. This will benefit the Australian scientific community by providing devices to solve important quantum problems, and benefit the wider community by growing a new industry based around diamond quantum nanoscience.Read moreRead less
Imaging Light and Gases with Low Energy Electrons. The imaging of light and atoms trapped in the potential minima of optical lattices will be a world first, positioning Australia at the forefront of the merging fields of electron microscopy and atom optics, leading to important international recognition and publicity. This project, relevant to the frontier technologies of photonics, atom optics and quantum information processing, will also develop a skills base in surface electron microscopy and ....Imaging Light and Gases with Low Energy Electrons. The imaging of light and atoms trapped in the potential minima of optical lattices will be a world first, positioning Australia at the forefront of the merging fields of electron microscopy and atom optics, leading to important international recognition and publicity. This project, relevant to the frontier technologies of photonics, atom optics and quantum information processing, will also develop a skills base in surface electron microscopy and laser science by providing high level training for post-graduate and honours students. In addition, the utilisation of optical lattices as micro-environmental cells in electron microscopy will be an important development for in situ studies of the gas phase including chemical reactions.
Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100647
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$385,155.00
Summary
Spin-Orbit coupling in a Lithium-6 quasi-2D Fermi gas. Spin-orbit interactions couple a particle's spin to its momentum and underlie remarkable phenomena including topological edge states in insulators and the fractional quantum Hall effect. In conventional solid-state systems these effects are difficult to study due to the complex and imperfect structure of the host material. This project will generate spin-orbit coupling in the defect free and highly controllable environment of an ultracold qu ....Spin-Orbit coupling in a Lithium-6 quasi-2D Fermi gas. Spin-orbit interactions couple a particle's spin to its momentum and underlie remarkable phenomena including topological edge states in insulators and the fractional quantum Hall effect. In conventional solid-state systems these effects are difficult to study due to the complex and imperfect structure of the host material. This project will generate spin-orbit coupling in the defect free and highly controllable environment of an ultracold quasi-two-dimensional Fermi gas to observe new topological phases and Majorana fermions which hold promise for realising decoherence free protected quantum states. Read moreRead less
Mesoscopic quantum reality in the light of new technologies. Evidence for the Schrodinger cat that defies macroscopic reality has emerged for systems of several atoms, ions or photons, resulting in a Nobel award in physics in 2012. However, developments in quantum science technology make these states experimentally accessible at an increasingly mesoscopic level. This project will develop a theory to test mesoscopic realism, nonlocality and decoherence in experiment, focusing on cold atom and ion ....Mesoscopic quantum reality in the light of new technologies. Evidence for the Schrodinger cat that defies macroscopic reality has emerged for systems of several atoms, ions or photons, resulting in a Nobel award in physics in 2012. However, developments in quantum science technology make these states experimentally accessible at an increasingly mesoscopic level. This project will develop a theory to test mesoscopic realism, nonlocality and decoherence in experiment, focusing on cold atom and ion trap systems. This project will study multipartite nonlocality based on Bell's theorem, the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox and Schrodinger's quantum steering. As well as having fundamental significance, these demonstrations are potentially useful for metrology, secure quantum cryptography and ultra-sensitive detectors.Read moreRead less
Crossing quantum-classical boundaries in a single particle. This project is aimed at constructing and observing an individual quantum system that can exhibit chaotic behaviour under controllable conditions. It is a long-sought goal of modern physics that can become reality for the first time in the world, thanks to the unique availability in Australia of the most quantum-coherent single spin ever made and a long history of theoretical advances in the field. Turning a spin into a chaotic system w ....Crossing quantum-classical boundaries in a single particle. This project is aimed at constructing and observing an individual quantum system that can exhibit chaotic behaviour under controllable conditions. It is a long-sought goal of modern physics that can become reality for the first time in the world, thanks to the unique availability in Australia of the most quantum-coherent single spin ever made and a long history of theoretical advances in the field. Turning a spin into a chaotic system will uncover the true nature of the quantum-classical boundary, and verify whether an underlying classical chaotic dynamics ultimately influences the behaviour of quantum systems. It is expected that the discoveries made will illuminate the path towards the technological exploitation of increasingly complex quantum devices.Read moreRead less
Finding the lost particle: Majorana fermions in ultracold atoms. Majorana fermions – particles that are their own antiparticles – play a key role in future quantum technologies such as fault-tolerant quantum computers. Being considered only as a mathematical possibility over the past 75 years, they might be surprisingly materialised owing to recent rapid experimental advances. In collaboration with the world-leading cold-atom laboratories in Australia, China and the USA, this project aims to pav ....Finding the lost particle: Majorana fermions in ultracold atoms. Majorana fermions – particles that are their own antiparticles – play a key role in future quantum technologies such as fault-tolerant quantum computers. Being considered only as a mathematical possibility over the past 75 years, they might be surprisingly materialised owing to recent rapid experimental advances. In collaboration with the world-leading cold-atom laboratories in Australia, China and the USA, this project aims to pave a new direction to create and manipulate Majorana fermions towards realistic atomtronics devices, by using the highly controllable setting of ultracold atomic Fermi gases. This research complements the search of Majorana fermions in solid-state devices.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100055
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$360,000.00
Summary
Quantum wires of Fermi atoms. This project aims to understand one-dimensional materials by engineering quantum wires of interacting fermions with ultracold atoms. Particles confined to move in one dimension behave differently than in three-dimensional matter, revealing quantum phases and exotic forms of superfluidity not seen in higher dimensions. Ultracold atoms allow the precise control of interactions and a perfectly isolated and defect free environment to study such phenomena not easily achi ....Quantum wires of Fermi atoms. This project aims to understand one-dimensional materials by engineering quantum wires of interacting fermions with ultracold atoms. Particles confined to move in one dimension behave differently than in three-dimensional matter, revealing quantum phases and exotic forms of superfluidity not seen in higher dimensions. Ultracold atoms allow the precise control of interactions and a perfectly isolated and defect free environment to study such phenomena not easily achieved in solid-state systems. The goal of this project is to provide quantitative insights into the thermodynamic and superfluid properties of one-dimensional quantum materials with potential significance for new innovations and applications in emerging quantum technologies.Read moreRead less
Spin-orbit coupled quantum gases: understanding new generation materials with topological order. Topological insulators and superconductors are new functional materials discovered very recently in solid-state systems. They have remarkable, topologically protected states on their surfaces that render the electrons travelling insensitive to the scattering by impurities or disorder. Their potential applications in our ordinary life are far-reaching, ranging from novel energy-saving devices to reali ....Spin-orbit coupled quantum gases: understanding new generation materials with topological order. Topological insulators and superconductors are new functional materials discovered very recently in solid-state systems. They have remarkable, topologically protected states on their surfaces that render the electrons travelling insensitive to the scattering by impurities or disorder. Their potential applications in our ordinary life are far-reaching, ranging from novel energy-saving devices to realistic quantum computers. This project will obtain greatly improved understanding of the novel topological states that underlie such new generation materials, by using the highly controllable settings of spin-orbit coupled quantum gases. It will advance Australia’s position at the forefront of ultracold atomic physics research.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101636
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$315,000.00
Summary
Emergent quantum phenomena in ultracold matter with artificial gauge fields. Gauge fields are central in our modern understanding of physics. They are at the origin of many sophisticated states of matter including quantum Hall materials, topological insulators and supersolids that have potential applications in future technologies. This project aims to explore these exotic quantum states emerging in ultracold atomic gases with artificially engineered gauge fields. Unlike the solid-state systems, ....Emergent quantum phenomena in ultracold matter with artificial gauge fields. Gauge fields are central in our modern understanding of physics. They are at the origin of many sophisticated states of matter including quantum Hall materials, topological insulators and supersolids that have potential applications in future technologies. This project aims to explore these exotic quantum states emerging in ultracold atomic gases with artificially engineered gauge fields. Unlike the solid-state systems, in which all details of the material structure are not controlled or even not known with certainty, the unprecedented controllability of the ultracold system provides a unique opportunity to gain key insights on the physics related to the gauge fields, and to advance the studies in both fundamental physics and applications.Read moreRead less
New generation periodic lattices for ultracold quantum gases. Periodic arrays of ultracold atoms trapped by magnetic microstructures will be used to mimic condensed matter systems with nontrivial geometries such as honeycomb lattices. These magnetic lattices will enable us to study exotic quantum states, such as those found in graphene, which has great potential for new-generation atomic-scale electronics.