Research Description
The physics of many-electron systems is ubiquitous in nature, informing superconductivity, spin transport, and magnetism, yet it is also profoundly challenging to treat exactly due to the complexity of real materials. The Hubbard model is a simplified description of such systems. Computational efforts continue to make progress on calculations of the Hubbard model’s low-temperature phases, and an alternative approach is to simulate the model directly using ultracold atoms trapped in standing-waves of light, known as optical lattices. A key historical challenge in this alternative approach has been reaching sufficiently low temperatures to observe central phenomena, like high-temperature superconductivity.
Adam Kaufman’s team will explore new chamber designs, aided by cryogenics, to greatly enhance heating from contaminants, new optical lattice designs to mitigate additional heating sources, and new cooling methods to mitigate collisional heating.
Research Impact
Dr. Kaufman’s work to develop an understanding of the full phase diagram of the Hubbard model, and thereby the behavior of strongly-correlated electron systems, promises to advance the theoretical understanding of materials and potentially inform the design of new classes of materials with novel efficiency properties.
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related links
Experimental Physics Investigators Initiative 
Science
University of Colorado at Boulder, Department of Physics
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