Cold atoms and matter waves is a research area focused on the quantum behavior of dilute atomic gases cooled to microkelvin or nanokelvin temperatures, where their de Broglie wavelengths become comparable to interparticle spacing and wave-like properties dominate. It encompasses the production and manipulation of Bose–Einstein condensates and degenerate Fermi gases, coherent control of atomic matter waves using optical and magnetic potentials, and exploration of many-body quantum phenomena in engineered lattices and traps. The field underpins precision metrology, quantum simulation, and interferometry by exploiting long coherence times, tunable interactions, and highly controllable external degrees of freedom of ultracold atomic ensembles.
A supersolid is a paradoxical state of matter—it is rigid like a crystal but flows without friction like a superfluid. This exotic form of quantum matter has only recently been realized in dipolar quantum gases.
General Physics
Oct 23, 2025
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Changing interactions between the smallest particles at the touch of a button: Quantum researchers at RPTU have developed a new tool that makes this possible. The new approach—a temporally oscillating magnetic field—has the ...
Condensed Matter
Oct 10, 2025
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Optical lattice clocks are emerging timekeeping devices based on tens of thousands of ultracold atoms trapped in an optical lattice (i.e., a grid of laser light). By oscillating between two distinct quantum states at a particular ...
Bloch oscillations are periodic oscillations of quantum particles in a repeating energy "landscape" (e.g., a crystal lattice) that are subjected to a constant force. These particle motions have been the focus of numerous ...
Cold atom experiments are among the most powerful and precise ways of investigating and measuring the universe and exploring the quantum world. By trapping atoms and exploiting their quantum properties, scientists can discover ...
Quantum Physics
Sep 25, 2025
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The precise imaging of many-body systems, which are comprised of many interacting particles, can help to validate theoretical models and better understand how individual particles in these systems influence each other. Ultracold ...
The neutral atom array architecture for quantum computing has been rapidly advancing over the last several years, and a recent study published in Nature has just revealed another step forward for this technology. The team ...
Picture the smartphone in your pocket, the data centers powering artificial intelligence, or the wearable health monitors that track your heartbeat. All of them rely on energy-hungry memory chips to store and process information. ...
Nanophysics
Sep 12, 2025
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In everyday life, all matter exists as either a gas, liquid, or solid. In quantum mechanics, however, it is possible for two distinct states to exist simultaneously. An ultracold quantum system, for instance, can exhibit ...
Soft Matter
Aug 28, 2025
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The simulation of quantum systems and the development of systems that can perform computations leveraging quantum mechanical effects rely on the ability to arrange atoms in specific patterns with high levels of precision. ...
