Detail Project and Funding

Abstract: Condensed matter physics studies the behaviour of electrons moving inside materials. This is tremendously important as the physical basis for materials science, making stronger and lighter materials, smaller and faster memories, and the real “holy grail” of the field, high-temperature superconductors in which electrons are paired in two dimensional layers, forming a strongly-correlated many-body system. In this context, the hunt of new superconducting materials requires the comprehension of the main physical details at the basis of such exotic quantum state. The main scientific goal of this project is to learn more about these phases using ultracold atomic Fermi gases. In our bottom-up approach the atomic gases are new “synthetic” quantum materials that feature the unique possibility to be shaped and designed with unprecedented control. These gases can be cooled to millionths of billions of a degree above absolute zero, and at such low temperatures, the atoms can be pushed around by light forces, trapping them in tailored artificial crystals. In addition, the possibility of tuning the inter-particle interactions via Feshbach resonances make them the ideal playground where to study nifty condensed matter phenomena in a very direct way. We will exploit the state-of-the-art INO-CNR experimental apparatus for the production of trapped 6Li quantum gases that is already available at LENS.