Ultracold Quantum Matter Advance at QOQI in Austria Opens Novel Research Frontiers

(Phys.org.News) Francesca Ferlaino and colleagues at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austria, have produced condensates that mix magnetic atoms dysprosium (Dy) or erbium (Er) The ability to couple two distinct dipolar atomic species will provide an opportunity to explore new quantum behaviors of ultracold gases. Working with different isotopes of Dy and Er—some fermionic, some bosonic—they produced a variety of Bose-Bose or Bose-Fermi quantum mixtures.
The experimental investigation of ultracold quantum matter makes it possible to study quantum mechanical phenomena that are otherwise inaccessible. This advance promises to open novel research frontiers in the field of dipolar quantum matter because of the long-range interaction among the two species.