Condensed Matter Physics Seminar

I will give a short introduction to recent experimental advances in imaging single atoms in optical lattices [1], followed by a detailed discussion of two applications. First, I will present the measurement of various single-site resolved correlation functions at the 2d and 1d Superlfluid-Mott Insulator transition [2]. In the last part, I will show the detection of an 'Higgs' type collective mode in a strongly interacting 2d superfluid [3]. [1] Sherson, J. F. et al. Single-atom-resolved fluorescence imaging of an atomic Mott insulator. Nature 467, 68 72 (2010) see also: Bakr, W. S. et al. Probing the superfluid-to-Mott insulator transition at the single-atom level. Science 329, 547 50 (2010) [2] Endres, M. et al. Observation of Correlated Particle-Hole Pairs and String Order in Low-Dimensional Mott Insulators. Science 334, 200 203 (2011) [3] Endres, M. et al. The `Higgs' Amplitude Mode at the Two-Dimensional Superfluid-Mott Insulator Transition. Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.5183 (2012)