Quantum degenerate gases are isolated, clean and tunable, making them a natural platform for controlled realization and study of a variety of physical phenomena. While past successes of this approach include the realization of unitary Fermi gases and the controlled observation of quantum phase transitions, the scope of cold atom quantum simulation continues to broaden. Recently much interest has focused on Floquet physics and strongly-driven quantum systems. In this talk I will present recent results from two classes of quantum simulation experiments on driven systems. First, I will present results from a new type of quantum simulator in which driven cold atoms simulate ultrafast ionization dynamics in attosecond laser pulses, counter-intuitively emulating some of the fastest processes in atomic physics with some of the slowest. I will discuss a sequence of experiments demonstrating the correspondence with ultrafast science, including the direct observation of carrier-envelope-phase dependent sub-cycle unbinding dynamics. Second, I will discuss atoms in periodically modulated optical lattices, including the exploration of a dynamical quantum phase diagram, and the observation of phasonic excitations in a quasiperiodic lattice.
Host: David DeMille