Javanainen, Juha

Research interests: Aggregates of atoms in an optical lattice as a laboratory for mesoscopic physics. The goal is to build a bridge between quantum mechanics (as in a two-atom cluster or "lattice dimer") and classical mechanics (as in a many-atom soliton). The back-action from measurements and other manipulations on the atoms appear to be crucial in establishing a classical-physics like behavior for an aggregate of atoms. We hope to turn this observation into methods whereby one can correctly address quantum fluctuations in a near-classical system, and conversely, transfer intuition from classical systems deep into the realm of quantum mechanics.

Education:

• D.Sc., Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, 1981
• M.Sc., Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, 1977

Employment:

• September 1987 - Present, Professor, Physics, University of Connecticut
• January 1986 - August 1987, Senior Research Associate, University of Rochester
• January 1985 - December 1985, Max-Planck-Stipendiat, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany
• April 1982 - December 1984, Senior Research Associate, University of Helsinki

Recent Publications

1. U. Shrestha, J. Javanainen, and J. Ruostekoski, Pulsating and persistent vector solitons in a Bose-Einstein condensate in a lattice upon phase separation instability, http://arxiv.org/abs/0903.5016 .
2. U. Shrestha, J. Javanainen, and J. Ruostekoski, Quantum dynamics of instability-induced pulsations of a Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice, Phys. Rev. A 79, 043617 (2009).
3. J. Javanainen and U. Shrestha, Nonlinear Phenomenology from Quantum Mechanics: Soliton in a Lattice, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 170405 (2008).
4. U. Shrestha, M. Kostrun, and J. Javanainen, Pulsating Instability of a Bose-Einstein Condensate in an Optical Lattice, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 070406 (2008).
5. A. Carmichael and J. Javanainen, Mean-field stationary state of a Bose gas at a Feshbach resonance, Phys. Rev. A 77, 019902 (2008)