Physics & Astronomy - Senior Honor Thesis -Katherine Mentzer, Dartmouth College

Title: "Extracting Density-Density Correlations from Quantum Degenerate Gases"

May 23, 2018
1 pm - 3 pm
Location
Wilder 115
Sponsored by
Physics & Astronomy Department
Audience
Public
More information
Tressena Manning
603-646-2854

Abstract: At a high phase space density, atoms enter a quantum degenerate gas state. In this state, interacting quantum systems exhibit correlations in many observable quantities. One such relationship is density-density correlations. Extending an earlier work, we built an algorithm to extract correlation information from images of quantum gases. The problems associated with imaging quantum gases are uniquely challenging because information is always lost in the imaging process. Arriving at the optimized scheme for extracting correlation information given physical and experimental limitations is non-trivial. To examine how effectively correlation information can be extracted, we created simulated experimental data with idealized underlying correlations. Simulating data required modeling the correlated quantum system, modeling the photon-atom interaction, and modeling the optical resolution limits. With idealized data, we evaluated the effectiveness of an algorithm designed to extract density-density correlations. The model we created generates results that are qualitatively similar to the expected results, but unexplained discrepancies still remain. Future work will need to address more comprehensive models of quantum gas correlations. 

Location
Wilder 115
Sponsored by
Physics & Astronomy Department
Audience
Public
More information
Tressena Manning
603-646-2854