Abstract: Understanding emergent behaviors in strongly interacting quantum systems is a frontier area of condensed matter physics. However, simulations of quantum many-body systems on classical computers are not scalable beyond a few dozen particles. This motivates the development of quantum simulators, highly controllable analog quantum computers specifically designed to study certain types of problems in condensed matter physics. I will present an overview of quantum simulation with ultracold gases of atoms and molecules, discussing examples relevant for understanding phenomena that occur in real materials, and others that explore completely novel regimes inaccessible in the solid-state. In particular, I will focus on advances enabled by the introduction of microscopy techniques that probe ultracold gases at the single-particle level and reveal the rich quantum correlations present in these systems.

Research interests: quantum simulation, quantum many-body physics, ultracold gases, ultracold molecules, Rydberg atoms, quantum computing.

Prof. Waseem Bakr is visiting Stanford to attend the 14th Japan-US Joint Seminar on Quantum Electronics and Laser Spectroscopy, so no other QFARM activities or meeting appointments will be arranged.