Spin waves in ultracold quantum gases

The incredibly long coherence times of atomic hyperfine states make them ideally suited for frequency standards and quantum information processing. Recent experiments on quantum gases have utilized this cherished trait of cold atoms for the study of spin waves, a property usually associated with solid-state materials rather than dilute atomic gases. Researchers in the Quantum Physics Division of of NIST observed this effect in a gas of rubidium-87 atoms cooled just above the transition for Bose-Einstein condensation. On the theory side, we teamed up with them for a detailed study of the excitation frequencies and damping rates of the collective spin modes. More recently, we have extended our work to the Bose-condensed regime, which is an unchartered direction for theory with a wealth of new physics to be discovered. In parallel with this work, we are also exploring the effects of internal coherence in a quantum degenerate Fermi gas. In this poster, I will reveal our latest results on these problems.