OverviewOne direction The current theme of our experiments research is to create systems analogous to solids in condensed matter systems by using ultracold atoms in optical lattices. The hope is that this approach to studying model Hamiltonians which describe condensed matter systems will provide an alternative route to the design and testing of new materials useful to society. For a short, informative big-picture view of how new materials are synthesized, studied, and brought to market, see this article. We work with rubidium Bose-Einstein condensates. A new BEC machine using lithium-7 is currently under construction. More to follow soon...Major challenges we address with our research is cooling these gases to lower temperatures and probing the new states of matter we expect to find as new energy scales become accessible. To this end, we have pioneered the methods of demagnetization cooling and Bragg scattering for ultracold atoms in optical lattices. Another exciting direction for our research is the possibility of creating states of matter that do not exist in the traditional condensed matter context. To this end, we are exploring the control offered via state-dependent lattices to manipulate and cool different spin states in the lattice. Spin-Dependent LatticesBragg ScatteringThermometry and Refridgeration |