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Quantum control of dynamics of quasiparticles in periodic and disordered lattice potentials

University of British Columbia

This thesis describes research on controlling the dynamics of quasiparticles in periodic and disordered lattice potentials. Working with model systems of arrays of atoms and molecules trapped in optical lattices, I focus on, but not limited to, the rotational excitons of polar molecules and propose to use external fields to control the binding and propagation of quasiparticles. First, we study the binding of rotational excitons in a periodic potential. We show that non-linear interactions of such excitons can be controlled by an electric field. The exciton-exciton interactions can be tuned to induce exciton pairing, leading to the formation of biexcitons and three-body bound states of excitons. In addition, we propose a non-optical way to create biexcitons by splitting a high-energy exciton into two low-energy excitons. Second, we present schemes to control the propagation of a collective excited state in ordered and disordered aggregates of coupled particles. We demonstrate that the dynamics of these excitations can be controlled by applying a transient external potential which modifies the phase of the quantum states of the individual particles. The method is based on an interplay of adiabatic and sudden time scales in the quantum evolution of the many-body states. We show that specific phase transformations can be used to accelerate or decelerate quantum energy transfer and spatially focus delocalized excitations onto different parts of arrays of quantum particles. For the model systems of atoms and molecules trapped in an optical lattice, we consider possible experimental implementations of the proposed technique and study the effect of disorder, due to the presence of impurities, on its fidelity. We further show that the proposed technique can allow control of energy transfer in completely disordered systems. Finally, in an effort to refine the theoretical tools to study dynamics of quasiparticles, I extend calculations of lattice Green's functions to disordered systems. We develop a generic algorithm that can be easily adapted to systems with long-range interactions and high dimensionalities. As an application of the method, we propose to use the Green's function to study the tunneling of biexciton states through impurities.

Text

2014-08-13

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/49995

Chemistry

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/