Kevin Wright
Associate Professor
Appointments
Associate Professor of Physics
Area of Expertise
Quantum physics,
Degenerate quantum gases,
Light-matter interactions,
Optics
Biography
Professor Wright is an experimental physicist who uses ultra-cold atomic gases to study quantum phases of matter, and fermionic superfluids in particular. He earned his Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Rochester (2009) under Nick Bigelow, studying the transfer of orbital angular momentum from light to a Bose-Einstein condensate of rubidium atoms. He then worked as a research fellow at the Joint Quantum Institute in Maryland with Bill Phillips and Gretchen Campbell, helping to create the first superfluid circuits of ultracold bosonic atoms. Since joining the Dartmouth physics faculty in 2013, he has established a research program aimed at studying ultracold fermionic superfluids in circuit-like configurations.
Education
B.S. Brigham Young University
Ph.D. University of Rochester
Taught Courses
Publications
Persistent currents in rings of ultracold fermionic atoms. Yanping Cai, Daniel G. Allman, Parth Sabharwal, and Kevin Wright Physical Review Letters, 128, 150401 (2022).
Mitigating Heating of Degenerate Fermions in a Ring-Dimple Atomic Trap, Daniel G. Allman, Parth Sabharwal, and Kevin C. Wright
Physical Review A, 107, 043322 (2023)
Monolithic bowtie cavity traps for ultracold gases. Yanping Cai, Daniel G. Allman, Parth Sabharwal, and Kevin Wright. Journal of the American Optical society B, 37, 3596-3603 (2020)
Driving phase slips in a superfluid atom circuit with a rotating weak link, K. C. Wright, R. B. Blakestad, C. J. Lobb, W. D. Phillips, and G. K. Campbell, Physical Review Letters 110, 025302 (2013)
Superflow in a Toroidal Bose-Einstein Condensate: An Atom Circuit with a Tunable Weak Link, A. Ramanathan, K. C. Wright, S. R. Muniz, M. Zelan, W. T. Hill, III, C. J. Lobb, K. Helmerson, W. D. Phillips, and G. K. Campbell, Physical Review Letters 106, 130401 (2011)
Sculpting the Vortex State of a Spinor BEC, K. C. Wright, L. S. Leslie, A. Hansen, and N. P. Bigelow, Physical Review Letters 102, 030405 (2009)
Threshold for creating excitations in a stirred superfluid ring, K. C. Wright, R. B. Blakestad, C. J. Lobb, W. D. Phillips, and G. K. Campbell, Physical Review A, 88, 063633 (2013)
Topology, edge states, and zero-energy states of ultracold atoms in one-dimensional optical superlattices with alternating on-site potentials or hopping coefficients. Yan He, Kevin Wright, Said Kouachi, and Chih-Chun Chien Physical Review A, 97, 023618 (2018)
2021 NSF CAREER Award
In 2021 Prof. Wright recieved an NSF CAREER award, providing $750k over 5 years for experimental studies using lithium quantum gases to simulate the behavior of electrons in solid materials, with special focus on how fluctuations, magnetization, and other factors affect resistance to the flow of currents through thin wires made of "quantum materials" like superconductors. The award also supports an integrated educational program aimed at developing more systematic ways of teaching students to "think like a physicist" in advanced lab courses, and improving their critical thinking and quantitiative reasoning skills.
Contact
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Double ring of lithium atoms cooled nearly to absolute zero temperature (top left), and interference patterns formed when the atoms are released. These patterns can be used to obtain information about quantized supercurrents flowing around the rings.