Gorshkov Research Group

In this research area, we take advantage of the unique internal structure of ultracold alkaline-earth atoms (atoms in the second column of the periodic table) for quantum computing and clock applications, as well as for studying exotic many-body physics.

Atomic, molecular, and optical systems are often subject to dissipation and are often coherently driven by electromagnetic fields. Such driven-dissipative systems, often evolving according to a master equation rather than a Hamiltonian, are much less explored than their dissipationless counterparts. For example, exotic many-body states may emerge as steady states under nonequilibrium dynamics.

Topological phases, such as fractional quantum Hall states, are phases with no local order parameter and are instead characterized by more exotic quantities such as peculiar entanglement properties. The interest in topological phases stems to a large degree from the exotic nature of excitations in such systems, which not only carry fractional charge but also obey unusual statistics: when two such excitations, called anyons, are exchanged, they - in contrast to fermions that pick up a phase of π - can pick up a phase that can be a fraction of π.