Email Print Share

All Images


News Release 09-155

"Wedding Cake" Images Display Transitions between Exotic Quantum States

From superfluid to Mott insulator, density profiles of ultracold atomic gases reveal secrets of quantum phase transitions

This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.

Mott insulating state.

The 'wedding cake' structure shows the density profile of a heterogeneous mixture of Mott insulating, superfluid and normal phases of ultracold cesium atoms trapped in an optical lattice. "The different layers of the cake are formed by Mott insulating domains of successively higher particle numbers, and their flatness is a result of their incompressibility," said Dr. Nathan Gemelke, of the University of Chicago.

"The edges as we go from one layer of the cake to the next are superfluid regions, where the density varies continuously," he said. "As the temperature is increased, the cake melts like a multi-tiered ice cream cake, and smears out the edges of the layers."

Credit: Cheng Chin, James Franck Institute, University of Chicago


Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (10 KB)

Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.

A high-resolution image of Mott-insulating, superfluid and normal gases of ultracold atoms.

A high-resolution absorption image of a heterogeneous sample of Mott-insulating, superfluid and normal gases of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. Each pixel corresponds to a square 660nm on a side, and the optical resolution is 1.3 micron.

Credit: Cheng Chin, James Franck Institute, University of Chicago


Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (576 KB)

Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.

Photo of researchers from the University of Chicago.

Researchers from the University of Chicago, from left to right, Nathan Gemelke, Chen-Lung Hung, Xibo Zhang, Cheng Chin. To left is the apparatus.

Credit: Cheng Chin, James Franck Institute, University of Chicago


Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (72 KB)

Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.