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You are here: FRIAS Fellows Fellows 2021/22 Dr. Gabriel Dufour

Dr. Gabriel Dufour

University of Freiburg
Physics
Junior Fellow
Alexander von Humboldt Fellow
October 2017 - May 2019

CV

I currently work as a post-doctoral researcher at the Physics Institute of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, in the group of Andreas Buchleitner. My research focuses on the dynamics of quantum systems, in particular quantum reflection of single atoms, transport in disordered systems and many-particle interference effects. I completed my Master's degree in Theoretical Physics at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, which involved internships with Kirk Madison at the University of British Columbia and Giuliano Orso at Université Paris-Diderot. I obtained my PhD in 2015 from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie. Under the supervision of Astrid Lambrecht and Serge Reynaud, I studied quantum reflection of atoms from surfaces, which is caused by the Casimir-Polder force. In 2016, I joined the group of Andreas Buchleitner in Freiburg. Since June 2017, I am a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Selected Publications

  • Casimir-Polder Shifts on Quantum Levitation States. P.-P. Crépin, G. Dufour, R. Guérout, A. Lambrecht, and S. Reynaud. Physical Review A 95, 032501 (2017).
  • Quantum Reflection and Liouville Transformations from Wells to Walls. G. Dufour, R. Guérout, A. Lambrecht and S. Reynaud. Europhysics Letters, 110, 30007 (2015).
  • Shaping the Distribution of Vertical Velocities of Antihydrogen in GBAR. G. Dufour, P. Debu, A. Lambrecht, V. V. Nesvizhevsky, S. Reynaud and A. Yu. Voronin. European Physical Journal C, 74, 2731 (2014).
  • Quantum Reflection of Antihydrogen from the Casimir Potential above Matter Slabs. G. Dufour, A. Gérardin, R. Guérout, A. Lambrecht, V. V. Nesvizhevsky, S. Reynaud and A. Yu. Voronin. Physical Review A, 87, 012901 (2013).
  • Anderson Localization of Pairs in Bichromatic Optical Lattices. G. Dufour and G. Orso. Physical Review Letters, 109, 155306 (2012).

FRIAS Research Project

Bosonic mixtures on a lattice: (in-)distinguishability and interactions

This proposal aims to disentangle the role of indistinguishability and interactions for the characteristic spectral and dynamical properties of interacting bosons trapped in a lattice potential. Describing the behavior of such systems features two essential challenges. Firstly, interactions prevent a description of the system based on single-particle properties. Secondly, and perhaps less widely recognized, the indistinguishability of the involved particles leads to complex and as yet poorly understood interference phenomena. Indeed, until now, the role of indistinguishability in many-particle interference has essentially been investigated in the absence of interactions, while on the contrary we will explore the case of interacting particles. By considering mixtures of mutually distinguishable bosonic species, we will be able to adjust the level of distinguishability in the system, and thus to single out the role of indistinguishability in the system's dynamics and spectral properties. We will proceed by systematically studying the Hilbert space structure induced by indistinguishability (or the lack thereof) in small systems which are amenable to direct diagonalization. Comparing the behavior of systems exhibiting various degrees of distinguishability and interactions, we will identify the mechanisms which govern the interplay of these two fundamental ingredients of many-body systems.