Ultracold Scattering in Confined Geometries

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Peter Schmelcher
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2007 to 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 42390521

We investigate quantum scattering in confined geometries with the focus on ultracold atomic (molecular) systems interacting in tight wave guides. Our approach is an ab initio study of the quantum dynamics of the ultracold scattering process by developing and applying corresponding wave packet propagation techniques. Wave guides covering the range of an isotropic harmonic to an anisotropic and/or anharmonic confinement will be explored. The variety of different possible interactions among the ultracold atoms/molecules such as short-ranged molecular potentials and long-range anisotropic dipolar interactions will be exploited. A central tool of the analysis are the quantum transmission and reflection properties in the wave guide in the single as well as the multi-channel scattering regime. It is foreseeable that novel scattering properties of atoms/molecules in the presence of a wave guide will lead to an enriched many-body physics. We therefore expect to predict new transport properties of ultracold systems with varying confinement and interaction potentials. Applications range from ultracold quantum gases in tightly confining 2D magnetic microtraps or optical dipole traps to, possibly, impurity scattering of electrons in quantum wires.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants