Few- and Many-body Physics in Ultracold Quantum Gases with Synthetic Spin-orbit Coupling

Dr Jia Wang

Centre for Quantum and Optical Science, FSET, Swinburne University of Technology

Many novel behaviours and phases in quantum few- and many-body systems can be understood from the competition between kinetic and interaction energies. The extraordinary degree of control in systems of ultracold quantum gases, therefore, provides versatile platforms to study these quantum phenomena. Recently, different types of synthetic spin-orbit coupling (SOC) have been successfully simulated in ultracold quantum gases with the assistance of atom-light interactions. The presence of SOC modifies the kinetic energy and dispersion relations, which leads to few- and many-body physics. In this talk, we will discuss the modification of dipole-dipole scattering in the presence of SOC as an example of few-body physics; and the polaron problem in SOC Bose-Einstein condensation as an example of many-body physics.