Prof. Richard J Fletcher

Professor Richard Fletcher studies the collective quantum behaviour of many-particle systems using dilute atomic vapours cooled down to nanokelvin temperatures, and manipulated by intricately sculpted laser beams and magnetic fields. The philosophy is to engineer custom-made quantum worlds, with exquisite control over trapping geometry, interparticle interactions, quantum statistics, and gauge fields, and explore the emergence of collective physics from the interplay of these few ingredients. These platforms provide both a powerful testbed for theory, and a wonderful playground for discovering new phenomena and realising states of matter not found in nature. Fletcher is particularly interested in the influence of dimensionality and geometry on quantum behaviour, and in the correlated physics which governs both strongly-interacting and flat band systems.