Biography

I was born in the beautiful city of Como, Italy.

I grew up with three brothers, and while playing Basketball and Ultimate Frisbee I became an Engineer and a Theoretical Physicist. In 2008 I married my lovely wife and in 2011 we had our first child. I have lived in Italy, France, Singapore, Australia and Switzerland, and I have been blessed to meet a great number of fascinating people.

Two of my greatest passions are teaching and research. I had the chance to pursue them during my PhD and postdoc years at the National University of Singapore, the Australian National University, the Centre for Quantum Technologies in Singapore, at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and at the University of Geneva.

I am inspired by the supervisors, teachers, colleagues and students with whom I had the good fortune to work.

Education

• Joint PhD Physics, National University of Singapore and Australian National University, 2009
• MEng Nuclear Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, 2005
• MEng Applied Physics, Ecole Centrale Paris, 2005

Research Interests

I am interested in the physics of complex systems. The main reason is that the interplay of the different components of a system allows the emergence of fascinating phenomena such as solitonic waves, glass-like dynamics, negative differential thermal conductance and superconductivity (to name a few).

The possible applications are too many to mention, from telecommunication technology to microchips or material engineering … the limit is our imagination!

My focus is mainly on the study of the dynamics of complex quantum systems because (i) the quantumness of the systems makes them more interesting and richer in potentialities and (ii) it is now possible to realize and study them with a remarkable degree of control as a result of experiments with ultracold gases.

Awards and Achievements

• Medal of the Material Research Society of Singapore for the best PhD thesis in Physics Department (2010)
• President Graduate Scholarship, National University of Singapore (2007)
• President Graduate Scholarship, National University of Singapore (2006)
• Fondazione Famiglia Legnanese Fellowship (2001)
• Lions Club Como scholarship (1999)

Publications

1. S. Greschner, L. Santos, D. Poletti, “Exploring unconventional Hubbard models with doubly modulated lattice gases”, accepted Physical Review Letters (2014), (arxiv:1407.6196)
2. J.-S. Bernier, D. Poletti, C. Kollath, “Dissipative dynamics of fermions in optical lattices: a slave spin approach”, accepted by Physical Review B (2014), (arxiv:1407.1098)
3. Y. Zheng, D. Poletti, “Work and efficiency of quantum Otto cycles in power-law trapping potentials”, Physical Review E 90, 012145 (2014), (arxiv:1404.3832)
4. D. Poletti, P. Barmettler, A. Georges, C. Kollath, “Emergence of glass-like dynamics for dissipative and strongly interacting bosons”, Physical Review Letters 111, 195301 (2013), (arxiv:1212.4637)
5. J.-S. Bernier, P. Barmettler, D. Poletti, C. Kollath, “Emergence of long-distance pair coherence through incoherent local environmental coupling”, Physical Review A 87, 063608 (2013), (arxiv:1211.4087)
6. D. Poletti, J.-S. Bernier, A. Georges, C. Kollath, “Interaction-induced impeding of decoherence and anomalous diffusion”, Physical Review Letters 109, 045302 (2012), (arxiv:1203.4540)
7. J.S. Bernier, D. Poletti, P. Barmettler, G. Roux, C. Kollath. “Slow quench dynamics of Mott-insulating regions in a trapped Bose gas”, Physical Review A 85, 033641 (2012), (arxiv:1111.4214)
8. P. Barmettler, D. Poletti, M. Cheneau, C. Kollath, “Propagation front of correlations in an interacting Bose gas”, Physical Review A 85, 053625 (2012), (arxiv:1202.5558)
9. M. Cheneau, P. Barmettler, D. Poletti, M. Endres, P. Schauß, T. Fukuhara, C. Gross, I. Bloch, C. Kollath, S. Kuhr “Light-cone like spreading of correlations in a quantum many-body system”, Nature481, 484 (2012), (arxiv:1111.0776)
10. D. Poletti, C. Kollath, “Slow quench dynamics of periodically driven quantum gases”, Physical Review A 84, 013615 (2011), (arxiv:1105.0686)
11. D. Poletti, C. Miniatura, B. Grémaud, “Topological quantum phase transition of attractive spinless fermions in a honeycomb lattice”, EuroPhysics Letters 93, 37008 (2011), (arxiv:1006.3179)
12. G. Benenti, G. Casati, S. Denisov, S. Flach, P. Hänggi, B. Li and D. Poletti, “Comment on ‘Coherent Ratchets in Driven Bose-Einstein Condensates’”, Physical Review Letters 104, 228901 (2010), (arxiv:0912.3667)
13. J. Abdullaev, D. Poletti, E.A. Ostrovskaya, B. Li and Y.S. Kivshar, “Controlled transport of matter waves in two-dimensional optical lattices”, Physical Review Letters 105, 090401 (2010), (arxiv:1003.0748)
14. D. Poletti, G. Benenti, G. Casati, P. Hänggi and B. Li, “Steering Bose-Einstein condensates despite time symmetry”, Physical Review Letters 102, 130604 (2009), (arxiv:0811.3340)
15. D. Poletti, E.A. Ostrovskaya, T.J. Alexander, B. Li and Y.S. Kivshar, “Ratchet-induced matter-wave transport and soliton collisions in Bose-Einstein condensates”, Physica D 238, 1338 (2009)
16. D. Poletti, T.J. Alexander, E.A. Ostrovskaya, B. Li and Y.S. Kivshar, “Dynamics of Matter-Wave Solitons in a Ratchet Potential”, Physical Review Letters 101, 150403 (2008), (arxiv:0802.0085)
17. D. Poletti, G. Benenti, G. Casati and B. Li, “Interaction-induced quantum ratchet in a Bose-Einstein condensate”, Physical Review A 76, 023421 (2007), (arxiv:cond-nat/0609535)
18. G. Casati, D. Poletti, “Quantum ratchets for periodically kicked cold atoms and Bose-Einstein condensates”, Journal of Physics: Conference Series 67, U5 (2007)
19. J. Gong, D. Poletti and P. Hänggi, “Dissipationless Directed Transport in Rocked Single-Band Quantum Dynamics”, Physical Review A 75, 033602 (2007), (arxiv:cond-mat/0702668)
20. D. Poletti, G. G. Carlo and B. Li, “Current behavior of a quantum Hamiltonian ratchet in resonance”, Physical Review E 75, 011102 (2007), (arxiv:cond-mat/0606124)
21. D. Poletti, L. Fu, J. Liu, and B. Li, “Quantum resonance and anti-resonance for a periodically kicked Bose-Einstein condensate in a one-dimensional box”, Physical Review E 73, 056203 (2006), (arxiv:cond-mat/0603362)