Experimental observation of the Anderson transition with atomic matter waves

by Prof. Gabriel Lemari

Thursday 22 Apr 2010, 17:00 → 18:00 Europe/Rome

Aula Corbino (Dip. di Fisica - Edificio E. Fermi)

Laser cooling of atoms has made possible to study a large variety of complex quantum systems under optimal conditions. In particular, using potentials created by light, we can study spatially periodic "optical lattices" which look like a crystal. Such an optical potential can be used for realizing "chaotic" quantum systems. We show how a quantum chaotic system realized with cold atoms allows to explore the metal-insulator Anderson transition in three dimensions, and to measure the critical exponent of this transition for the first time with non-interacting matter waves . We also study the transport properties at the critical point.