Dear all

Please be informed about the following QSIT Seminar.

With best regards, Ilona Blatter -------------------------------------------------- Date: Tuesday March 8, 2011 Time: 13:00 Place: HIL E 7 Host: Tilman Esslinger

Non-equilibrium quantum phase transition with atoms in optical resonators Peter Domokos Research Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics, Budapest, Hungary

Laser-driven ultracold atoms in a Bose-Einstein condensate coupled to the single mode of a high-finesse optical cavity exhibit a phase transition from the homogeneous into a periodically patterned distribution above a critical driving strength. This process of self- organization is closely related to the quantum phase transition of the spin-boson Dicke-model from the normal to the superradiant phase. However, the cavity QED system is intrinsically open and the system is not in equilibrium even at zero temperature. We will discuss the influence of the irreversible photon loss through the cavity mirrors on the main features of the criticality.

--------------------------------------------------- ETH Zurich Dr. Ilona Blatter QSIT Coordinator Laboratory for Solid State Physics HPF E 17 Schafmattstrasse 16 8093 Zurich

ilona.blatter@phys.ethz.ch www.qsit.ethz.ch www.nccr-qsit.ethz.ch

Phone: +41 44 633 36 06 Home: +41 44 844 42 50