Welcome to Dr. Qian Niu's Group

Welcome to νGroup: a quantum transport theory group led by Dr. Qian Niu. Our research topics cover

• nanostructures and quantum devices
• quasi-periodic systems
• vortex dynamics
• quantum Hall effect
• Bose-Einstein condensation

Research Highlights

New twist for magnetic monopoles

A. MacDonald and Q. Niu, Physics World, January, 18 (2004)

There is a surprising lack of symmetry in Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism. Electric fields are created by electric charges, while magnetic fields are produced by the movement of electric charges. Magnetic charges are completely absent from the theory, not because Maxwell forgot to put them in, but because isolated magnetic charges do not seem to exist in the real world. More ...
[Article Link]

A quantum tweezer for atoms

Diener et al., PRL 89, 070401 (2002)

We studied the evolution of the number of particles in a deep, narrow potential well that is swept through a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. We found that due to the asymmetry in the repulsion between two atoms in the trap and two atoms in the well, we can achieve a regime in which the number of atoms left in the well once it is out of the trap is quantized. The effect is similar to the phenomenon of Coulomb blockade in solid-state systems. This research was highlighted in NatureScience Update.
[ Article Link]