News & Seminars | HKUST Department of Physics

Producing and manipulating controllable quantum states of atoms and photons are of great interest not only for probing fundamental quantum physics but also for developing future quantum technology. Modern technology allows us to understand atom-photon interaction from various perspectives. In this PhD thesis research work, I will describe two different approach to study atoms and photons in quantum regime. In atomic, molecule and optical (AMO) physics, ultracold atoms shows its values and potentials in acting as a platform for investigating many-body physics. Here I describe our recent effort in the production of ultracold degenerate Ytterbium atomic gases, the realization of 174Yb Bose-Einstein condensate and 173Yb Fermi degenerate. This atomic system can be used to simulate condensed matter physics which cannot be found in conventional electronbased systems. On the side of photons, we study an electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) based quantum heat engine (QHE), which employ cold atoms as working substance. We experimentally constructed this QHE and demonstrated directional thermal radiation with a spectral brightness that is about 9 times greater than that of the ambient pumping reservoir. This nontraditional coherence-based QHE violates detailed balance and Kirchhoffs law. At last, I will report our ongoing effort in building a cold atomic ensemble embedded to a cavity system for study cavity quantum electrodynamics (Cavity QED), coupling between photons and atoms is achieved via the combination of the resonance enhancement of a cavity and a collective enhancement of an ensemble.