MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms

Quantum mechanics tells us how to predict the behavior of the microscopic world. For a single particle, the Schrödinger equation can be simulated on a computer. However, if we’re interested in a quantum system of many interacting particles, the difficulty of the problem scales up exponentially, and it becomes intractable to even the largest supercomputers. Experiments with ultracold atoms can achieve an unprecedented level of control over the building blocks of matter. We can tailor energy landscapes and Hamiltonians as we see fit to simulate other materials and also to discover new phases of matter never before seen in nature.

The Center for Ultracold Atoms (CUA) brings together a community of scientists from MIT and Harvard University to pursue research in the new fields that that have been opened by the creation of ultracold atoms and quantum gases. The CUA is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The CUA’s research is currently organized around the themes of strongly correlated states of ultracold atoms and quantum state control of atoms and photons. The research is carried out in dedicated facilities at MIT and Harvard University by a community of approximately 100 graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, undergraduate students and visitors who work under the supervision of the Center’s senior investigators in collaborative projects.
CUA research focuses on research at the frontiers of ultracold science including the nature of high-temperature superconductors, the origin of quantum magnetism, and the nature of entanglement and correlations in few-particles systems. The research exploits the growing power of controlling bosonic and fermionic fluids of ultracold atoms, and single atoms and photons. These techniques are applied to problems of central interest in condensed matter physics, and quantum information science. The research program is organized about two major themes: Strongly correlated states of ultracold atoms, and Quantum state control of atoms and photons.