Cold-atom Realization of the Quantum Kapitza Pendulum

ORAL

Abstract

The Kapitza pendulum is perhaps the most famous example of dynamic stabilization in a classical single-particle system. When the pivot of a rigid pendulum is modulated in a certain range of amplitude and frequency, a new stable equilibrium appears in the upward-pointing configuration. Extensions of Kapitza stabilization to the quantum many-body regime remain completely unexplored. We report on progress towards realization of a quantum Kapitza pendulum using lithium atoms in a modulated optical lattice, and discuss prospects for mapping the dynamical phase diagram. Tunable quantum Kapitza pendula could enable a variety of exciting research directions, including investigation of the role of strong interactions, possible applications of controllable stabilization, and advances in our understanding of unconventional dynamical behavior in many-body quantum systems.

*We acknowledge support from the ONR (award N00014-14-1-0805), the ARO and the PECASE program (award W911NF-14-1-0154), the AFOSR (award FA9550-12-1-0305), and the Alfred P. Sloan foundation (grant BR2013-110).

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Authors

  • Kurt Fujiwara

    • Physics Department, University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Ruwan Senaratne

    • Physics Department, University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Zach Geiger

    • Physics Department, University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Shankari Rajagopal

    • Physics Department, University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Kevin Singh

    • Physics Department, University of California, Santa Barbara

  • David Weld

    • Physics Department, University of California, Santa Barbara