Postdoctoral research associate with the Whaley Group at The University of Califormia Berkeley and the center for Computational Physics at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH Zurich

Recent Research Interests:

My research focuses on theories of quantum condensed matter phenomena. I study mostly low dimensional systems where the interplay between quantum mechanics and many-body effects leads to new and exciting physics. Along these lines, numerics play a key role in theoretical discovery in quantum many-body models where conventional analytic techniques break down. I use a variety of computational tools to draw a rigorous connection between experiment and well defined models.

Recent experimental progress in controlling atomic gases and realizing ultracold atomic gases have lead to a set of excitingly pristine and tunable quantum condensed matter systems relatively free from dirt, disorder, and defects. Quantum mechanical many-body effects in solid state systems are often hidden by the complexity of host materials. Cold atomic gases, by contrast, present nearly ideal condensed matter testing grounds where lasers, interacting with atoms in cold atomic gases, establish confining potentials (including optical lattices), to emulate models normally applied to dirty solid state systems. New theoretical tools guide construction of novel many-body states in the lab and make predictions for observation. Some examples of my recent work in studying novel phases of matter in cold atom optical lattices include a proposal for realizing a supersolid in optical lattices, a numerical study investigating the possible detection of an optical lattice supersolid, the prediction of a novel 1D optical lattice insulator, and ideas for the realization of artificial-emergent photons in optical lattices.

Another related branch of quantum condensed matter involves the study of topological order. A large body of recent theoretical work (primarily involving two spatial dimensions) connects models of quantum condensed matter systems with topological order. Some topological theories make the fascinating prediction that quasiparticles in topological matter obey their own emergent set of physical laws including fractional charge and exotic statistics. Topological phases have been theoretically discussed in connection with experiments involving the fractional quantum Hall effect, high temperature superconductors, and optical lattices, to name a few. I am currently conducting numerical studies of models carrying topological ground states. Systematic studies of observable properties and robustness can provide key insights towards identifying exotic properties of topologically ordered systems in real materials. Some of my research in the past has looked at novel topologically ordered states in the fractional quantum Hall effect: paired states of composite fermions in the lowest and second Landau levels. I have also studied braiding of anyons in optical lattices engineered to display topological order.





Selected Publications:



1. Searching for a Supersolid in Cold-Atom Optical Lattices
   V. W. Scarola, E. Demler, and S. Das Sarma, Phys. Rev. A . 73, 051601(R) (2006).
   [cond-mat/0602319 ,pdf ] See Review in Nature Nature 442, 147 (2006).
2. Cold Atom Optical Lattices as Quantum Analog Simulators for Aperiodic
   One-Dimensional Localization Without Disorder,
   V. W. Scarola and S. Das Sarma, Phys. Rev. A . 73, 041609(R) (2006).
   [cond-mat/0506415 ,pdf ]
3. Quantum Phases of the Extended Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian:
   The Possibility of a Supersolid State of Cold Atoms in Optical Lattices,
   V. W. Scarola and S. Das Sarma, Phys. Rev. Lett . 95, 033003 (2005).
   [cond-mat/0503378 ,pdf ]
4. Chirality in Quantum Computation with Spin Cluster Qubits,
   V. W. Scarola, K. Park, and S. Das Sarma, Phys. Rev. Lett . 93,120503 (2004).
   [cond-mat/0403444 ,pdf ]
5. Pseudospin Quantum Computation in Semiconductor Nanostructures,
   V. W. Scarola, K. Park, and S. Das Sarma, Phys. Rev. Lett . 91, 167903 (2003).
   [cond-mat/0304225 ,pdf ]
6. Possible Pairing-Induced Even-Denominator Fractional Quantum Hall Effect
   in the Lowest Landau Level,
   V. W. Scarola,J.K. Jain, and E.H. Rezayi, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 216804 (2002).
   [cond-mat/0203287 ,pdf ]
7. Cooper Instability of Composite Fermions,
   V. W. Scarola, K. Park, and J.K. Jain, Nature. 406, 863 (2000).
   [cond-mat/0012030 ,pdf ]