Revealing Emergent Many-Body Phenomena with Spatiotemporal Control
Coordinators: Christiane Koch, Maciej Lewenstein, David Weld, and Norman Yao
Scientific Advisors: Vincent Liu, Gediminas Juzeliūnas, Jun Ye, and Peter Zoller
This program has been cancelled.
Within many-body quantum optics, a multi-platform experimental convergence is underway, in which techniques of exquisite spatial control (as demonstrated in ultracold quantum gas experiments) are being united with techniques of temporal control (e.g., as applied in color-center experiments). These advances in the spatial and temporal manipulation of quantum matter are enabling new capabilities ranging from Floquet engineering to bottom-up assembly of quantum states and opening up the possibility of full spatiotemporal quantum control. This creates an exciting opportunity to use the rich coherent control toolset developed over decades in the contexts of nuclear magnetic resonance, ultrafast, and quantum information science towards the creation of fundamentally new states of matter. The emerging tools of many-body spatiotemporal quantum control represent an important bridge to the exploration of complex correlated problems based on fully understood few-particle subsystems. Exploration of this new regime will require bringing together expertise from the fields of many-body quantum optics and the many variants of quantum control. Igniting and sustaining such a collaborative approach is the main goal of this program.
In addition to enabling the exploration of diverse new physical phenomena, explorations of spatiotemporal control also enable study of entirely new sets of questions. Does controllability of a quantum system depend on the quantization of the spatial degrees of freedom? What is the interplay between (non-)locality and control? When does the controlled adiabatic evolution of a system fall into a glassy minimum? Are there fundamental limits on the efficiency of spatiotemporal control algorithms in many-body systems? Finally, improved understanding of spatiotemporal control protocols may play a significant role in the effort to implement practical quantum technologies, by supplying tools to overcome the related central challenges of heating, decoherence and state preparation.