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Schmelcher Group

Institution
Center for Optical Quantum Technologies - University of Hamburg - DE Germany
Research
Theory
The group explores several complementary aspects of ultracold physics. The electronic structure and quantum dynamics of ultracold Rydberg atoms and molecules including their dressing in light fields and the coherent excitation dynamics in multi-trap arrays represents one focus. To develop a deep understanding of the mechanisms of quantum and in particular tunneling dynamics is our goal in case of strongly correlated bosons in low-dimensional traps including optical lattices and waveguides. Ultracold scattering in low-dimensions leads to novel interaction properties of atoms with an immediate impact on the corresponding many-body systems. Confinement-induced resonances and molecules formation as well as confinement-induced transparency are examples. We study nonlinear excitations of Bose-Einstein condensates such as solitons and vortices including their stability, structure and dynamics. Formation of ultracold molecules and steering their dynamics via external electric fields such as quantum control of photoassociation processes open the door to a quantum state selective chemical reactions dynamics.