Abstract
Among the atoms in the periodic table, some display a large magnetic dipole moment in their electronic ground state. This feature comes from a large total (spin and orbital) angular momentum of the electrons. The achievement of quantum degeneracy in gases of atoms possessing such a large magnetic moment has opened up new research directions in which long-range anisotropic dipole-dipole interactions are competing with the conventional short-range contact interactions. For the most magnetic atoms - such as erbium and dysprosium - a fine control of this interaction competition has yielded the discovery of novel many-body quantum states, which are stabilized from the mere effect of quantum fluctuations. These states include liquid-like droplets, droplet crystals, and supersolids, a paradoxical phase of matter which simultaneously exhibits solid and superfluid orders. In my talk, I will review the investigations that we have carried out in my former group in Innsbruck on such exotic states in cigar-shaped three-dimensional quantum Bose gases of erbium and dysprosium. I will also shortly discuss the future research directions that I want to develop in my research group in Heidelberg focusing on quantum gases of magnetic atoms in lower dimensions.
