Academic history: 1993-1997 BSc and MSc studies in Physics University of Crete. 1998-2002 Imperial College PhD. Then college research fellow at University of Cambridge working at Centre for Quantum Computation in DAMTP. Since 2007 I am a faculty member at the Science Department of the Technical University of Crete. I also hold a visiting research position in the Centre for Quantum Technologies, Singapore. Research interests: I am working in the interface of quantum optics, condensed matter physics and quantum computation. More specifically among others I have been developing the idea of Photonic Quantum Simulators. These are systems of photons that could simulate (mimick) quantum many body effects found in condensed matter systems. One possible platform for exploration of these ideas are Coupled Cavity Arrays, where lattices of photons interacting with atoms can mimick the behaviour of electrons in solids. Another direction is using hollow fibers and waveguides where photonic fields couple to cold atomic gases. Here phenomena appearing in quantum liquids can be simulated and understood. For more details see the research highlights and research summary in layman terms Open positions at the Postdoc and PhD levels in Quantum Optics and Quantum Many Body Effects. Please contact at dimitris.angelakis-at-gmail.com News July 2011: Neutrino oscillations in trapped ions, arXiv:1106.4936 We propose a scheme to simulate neutrino oscillations which is experimentally implementable with existing techniques for neutrinos in 1+1 dimensions. We demonstrate how the three generation neutrino oscillations is realizable with three trapped ions. In 1+1 dimensions only experimentally proven interactions are required. The same method can be applied to two generation neutrino oscillations, which require less resources. News June 2011: Probing the BCS-BEC crossover with photons in a nonlinear optical fiber, arXiv:1106.4936 We propose a scheme where strongly correlated photons generated inside a hollow one dimensional waveguide filled with two cold atomic species can be used to simulate the BCS-BEC crossover. We first show how stationary light-matter excitations (polaritons) in the system can realize an optically tunable two component Bose-Hubbard model, and then analyze the optical parameters regime necessary to generate an effective Fermi-Hubbard model of photons exhibiting Cooper pairing. The characteristic correlated phases of the system can be efficiently observed due to the {\it in situ} accessibility of the photon correlations with standard optical technology.   News 12.4.2011: Our paper "A photonic Luttinger liquid and spin-charge separation in a hollow-core fiber" has just been published in Phys. Rev Lett. 106, 153601 (2011) arXiv:1006.1644: It has also beed selected as an "Editors Suggestion" and Viewpoint article on our work by G. A Fiete that has appeared in Physics can be accessed here Nature Research Highlight: "Optical Physics: A liquid of photons", Nature, 472, 262 (2011) Sunday 8.5.2011 Coverage of the above work by the Greek Sunday newspaper Vima Science (in Greek) One of the most counterintuitive characteristics of one dimensional electron gases is spin-charge separation.In this case the electrons cease to behave as single particles comprised of spin and charge. Instead collective excitations appear carrying only charge (and no spin) or only spin (and no charge). Important efforts trying to measure the spectral function and observe distinct spinon and holon branches in condensed matter systems have been inconclusive so far due to the complexity of the structures involved. We show here that spin-charge separation could be efficiently observed in strongly correlated quantum optical system. Quasi-particles formed from light-matter excitations (polaritons) trapped in a waveguide, are shown to obey the Lieb Liniger dynamics of a two component quantum liquid. We explain how to prepare and drive the photonic system to a strongly interacting regime and then proceed by explaining how to measure the corresponding effective spin/charge densities and velocities through standard optical methods. (Left) A schematic of system under consideration (Right) The single particle spectral function showing distinct effective spin and charge brances propagating with different velocities! News 24.3.2011: Our new work on how to "pin photons into order" is completed, here is a preprint Pinning quantum phase transition of photons in a hollow-core fiber (arXiv:1103.4856v1)Many-body quantum phenomena are responsible for fascinating physics like superconductivity and quantum phase transitions.One-dimensional (1D) systems of interacting particles are particularly interesting as the combined effects of interactions and quantum fluctuations lead to radically different behavior from what expected in more dimensions. One of the significant most famous example is the pinning of strongly interacting particles in an orderly line even in the absence of any lattice potential. Motivated by recent success in generating strong nonlinear interactions between trapped photons in optical waveguides, we analyze how a pinning transition for photons in a hollow-core fiber could be observed. Our optical proposal, except being counterintuitive as photons as used to describe massive particles, allows for the efficient detection of the resulting many body states through standard photon correlations measurements. (Right) The phase diagram of the realizable correlated photonic states as a function of the external optical parameters.We assume a total atomic decay rate from the upper level around 20MhZ, approximately $10^{5}$ atoms into a few cm fiber and the input quantum light pulse containing roughly 10 photons. |
