Engineering of a Low-Entropy Quantum Simulator for Strongly Correlated Electrons Using Cold Atoms with SU(N)-Symmetric Interactions

An advanced cooling scheme, incorporating entropy engineering, is vital for isolated artificial quantum systems designed to emulate the low-temperature physics of strongly correlated electron systems. This study theoretically demonstrates a cooling method employing multicomponent Fermi gases with SU(N)-symmetric interactions, focusing on the case of ^{173}Yb atoms in a two-dimensional optical lattice. Adiabatically introducing a nonuniform state-selective laser gives rise to two distinct subsystems: a central low-entropy region, exclusively composed of two specific spin components, acts as a quantum simulator for strongly correlated electron systems, while the surrounding N-component mixture retains a significant portion of the entropy of the system. The total particle numbers for each component are good quantum numbers, creating a sharp boundary for the two-component region. The cooling efficiency is assessed through extensive finite-temperature Lanczos calculations. The results lay the foundation for quantum simulations of two-dimensional systems of Hubbard or Heisenberg type, offering crucial insights into intriguing low-temperature phenomena in condensed-matter physics.

Observation of Nagaoka polarons in a Fermi-Hubbard quantum simulator

Quantum interference can deeply alter the nature of many-body phases of matter1. In the case of the Hubbard model, Nagaoka proved that introducing a single itinerant charge can transform a paramagnetic insulator into a ferromagnet through path interference2-4. However, a microscopic observation of this kinetic magnetism induced by individually imaged dopants has been so far elusive. Here we demonstrate the emergence of Nagaoka polarons in a Hubbard system realized with strongly interacting fermions in a triangular optical lattice5,6. Using quantum gas microscopy, we image these polarons as extended ferromagnetic bubbles around particle dopants arising from the local interplay of coherent dopant motion and spin exchange. By contrast, kinetic frustration due to the triangular geometry promotes antiferromagnetic polarons around hole dopants7. Our work augurs the exploration of exotic quantum phases driven by charge motion in strongly correlated systems and over sizes that are challenging for numerical simulation8-10.

Tunable Superdiffusion in Integrable Spin Chains Using Correlated Initial States

Although integrable spin chains host only ballistically propagating particles, they can still feature diffusive charge transfer. This diffusive charge transfer originates from quasiparticle charge fluctuations inherited from the initial state's magnetization Gaussian fluctuations. We show that ensembles of initial states with quasi-long-range correlations lead to superdiffusive charge transfer with a tunable dynamical exponent. We substantiate our prediction with numerical simulations and discuss how finite time and finite size effects might cause deviations.

Equation of State and Thermometry of the 2D SU(N) Fermi-Hubbard Model

We characterize the equation of state (EoS) of the SU(N>2) Fermi-Hubbard Model (FHM) in a two-dimensional single-layer square optical lattice. We probe the density and the site occupation probabilities as functions of interaction strength and temperature for N=3, 4, and 6. Our measurements are used as a benchmark for state-of-the-art numerical methods including determinantal quantum Monte Carlo and numerical linked cluster expansion. By probing the density fluctuations, we compare temperatures determined in a model-independent way by fitting measurements to numerically calculated EoS results, making this a particularly interesting new step in the exploration and characterization of the SU(N) FHM.

Imaging a ^{6}Li Atom in an Optical Tweezer 2000 Times with Λ-Enhanced Gray Molasses

We have imaged lithium-6 thousands of times in an optical tweezer using Λ-enhanced gray molasses cooling light. Despite being the lightest alkali metal, with a recoil temperature of 3.5  μK, we achieve an imaging survival of 0.999 50(2), which sets the new benchmark for low-loss imaging of neutral atoms in optical tweezers. Lithium is loaded directly from a magneto-optical trap into a tweezer with an enhanced loading rate of 0.7. We cool the atom to 70  μK and present a new cooling model that accurately predicts steady-state temperature and scattering rate in the tweezer. These results pave the way for ground state preparation of lithium en route to the assembly of the LiCs molecule in its ground state.

Frustration- and doping-induced magnetism in a Fermi-Hubbard simulator

Geometrical frustration in strongly correlated systems can give rise to a plethora of novel ordered states and intriguing magnetic phases, such as quantum spin liquids1-3. Promising candidate materials for such phases4-6 can be described by the Hubbard model on an anisotropic triangular lattice, a paradigmatic model capturing the interplay between strong correlations and magnetic frustration7-11. However, the fate of frustrated magnetism in the presence of itinerant dopants remains unclear, as well as its connection to the doped phases of the square Hubbard model12. Here we investigate the local spin order of a Hubbard model with controllable frustration and doping, using ultracold fermions in anisotropic optical lattices continuously tunable from a square to a triangular geometry. At half-filling and strong interactions U/t ≈ 9, we observe at the single-site level how frustration reduces the range of magnetic correlations and drives a transition from a collinear Néel antiferromagnet to a short-range correlated 120° spiral phase. Away from half-filling, the triangular limit shows enhanced antiferromagnetic correlations on the hole-doped side and a reversal to ferromagnetic correlations at particle dopings above 20%, hinting at the role of kinetic magnetism in frustrated systems. This work paves the way towards exploring possible chiral ordered or superconducting phases in triangular lattices8,13 and realizing t-t' square lattice Hubbard models that may be essential to describe superconductivity in cuprate materials14.

Tangent Space Approach for Thermal Tensor Network Simulations of the 2D Hubbard Model

Accurate simulations of the two-dimensional (2D) Hubbard model constitute one of the most challenging problems in condensed matter and quantum physics. Here we develop a tangent space tensor renormalization group (tanTRG) approach for the calculations of the 2D Hubbard model at finite temperature. An optimal evolution of the density operator is achieved in tanTRG with a mild O(D^{3}) complexity, where the bond dimension D controls the accuracy. With the tanTRG approach we boost the low-temperature calculations of large-scale 2D Hubbard systems on up to a width-8 cylinder and 10×10 square lattice. For the half-filled Hubbard model, the obtained results are in excellent agreement with those of determinant quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC). Moreover, tanTRG can be used to explore the low-temperature, finite-doping regime inaccessible for DQMC. The calculated charge compressibility and Matsubara Green's function are found to reflect the strange metal and pseudogap behaviors, respectively. The superconductive pairing susceptibility is computed down to a low temperature of approximately 1/24 of the hopping energy, where we find d-wave pairing responses are most significant near the optimal doping. Equipped with the tangent-space technique, tanTRG constitutes a well-controlled, highly efficient and accurate tensor network method for strongly correlated 2D lattice models at finite temperature.

Fermionic-propagator and alternating-basis quantum Monte Carlo methods for correlated electrons on a lattice

Ultracold-atom simulations of the Hubbard model provide insights into the character of charge and spin correlations in and out of equilibrium. The corresponding numerical simulations, on the other hand, remain a significant challenge. We build on recent progress in the quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulation of electrons in continuous space and apply similar ideas to the square-lattice Hubbard model. We devise and benchmark two discrete-time QMC methods, namely the fermionic-propagator QMC (FPQMC) and the alternating-basis QMC (ABQMC). In FPQMC, the time evolution is represented by snapshots in real space, whereas the snapshots in ABQMC alternate between real and reciprocal space. The methods may be applied to study equilibrium properties within the grand-canonical or canonical ensemble, external field quenches, and even the evolution of pure states. Various real-space/reciprocal-space correlation functions are also within their reach. Both methods deal with matrices of size equal to the number of particles (thus independent of the number of orbitals or time slices), which allows for cheap updates. We benchmark the methods in relevant setups. In equilibrium, the FPQMC method is found to have an excellent average sign and, in some cases, yields correct results even with poor imaginary-time discretization. ABQMC has a significantly worse average sign, but also produces good results. Out of equilibrium, FPQMC suffers from a strong dynamical sign problem. On the contrary, in ABQMC, the sign problem is not time-dependent. Using ABQMC, we compute survival probabilities for several experimentally relevant pure states.

Dipolar physics: a review of experiments with magnetic quantum gases

Since the achievement of quantum degeneracy in gases of chromium atoms in 2004, the experimental investigation of ultracold gases made of highly magnetic atoms has blossomed. The field has yielded the observation of many unprecedented phenomena, in particular those in which long-range and anisotropic dipole-dipole interactions (DDIs) play a crucial role. In this review, we aim to present the aspects of the magnetic quantum-gas platform that make it unique for exploring ultracold and quantum physics as well as to give a thorough overview of experimental achievements. Highly magnetic atoms distinguish themselves by the fact that their electronic ground-state configuration possesses a large electronic total angular momentum. This results in a large magnetic moment and a rich electronic transition spectrum. Such transitions are useful for cooling, trapping, and manipulating these atoms. The complex atomic structure and large dipolar moments of these atoms also lead to a dense spectrum of resonances in their two-body scattering behaviour. These resonances can be used to control the interatomic interactions and, in particular, the relative importance of contact over dipolar interactions. These features provide exquisite control knobs for exploring the few- and many-body physics of dipolar quantum gases. The study of dipolar effects in magnetic quantum gases has covered various few-body phenomena that are based on elastic and inelastic anisotropic scattering. Various many-body effects have also been demonstrated. These affect both the shape, stability, dynamics, and excitations of fully polarised repulsive Bose or Fermi gases. Beyond the mean-field instability, strong dipolar interactions competing with slightly weaker contact interactions between magnetic bosons yield new quantum-stabilised states, among which are self-bound droplets, droplet assemblies, and supersolids. Dipolar interactions also deeply affect the physics of atomic gases with an internal degree of freedom as these interactions intrinsically couple spin and atomic motion. Finally, long-range dipolar interactions can stabilise strongly correlated excited states of 1D gases and also impact the physics of lattice-confined systems, both at the spin-polarised level (Hubbard models with off-site interactions) and at the spinful level (XYZ models). In the present manuscript, we aim to provide an extensive overview of the various related experimental achievements up to the present.

New trends in quantum integrability: recent experiments with ultracold atoms

Over the past two decades quantum engineering has made significant advances in our ability to create genuine quantum many-body systems using ultracold atoms. In particular, some prototypical exactly solvable Yang-Baxter systems have been successfully realized allowing us to confront elegant and sophisticated exact solutions of these systems with their experimental counterparts. The new experimental developments show a variety of fundamental one-dimensional (1D) phenomena, ranging from the generalized hydrodynamics to dynamical fermionization, Tomonaga-Luttinger liquids, collective excitations, fractional exclusion statistics, quantum holonomy, spin-charge separation, competing orders with high spin symmetry and quantum impurity problems. This article briefly reviews these developments and provides rigorous understanding of those observed phenomena based on the exact solutions while highlighting the uniqueness of 1D quantum physics. The precision of atomic physics realizations of integrable many-body problems continues to inspire significant developments in mathematics and physics while at the same time offering the prospect to contribute to future quantum technology.

Two-Dimensional Programmable Tweezer Arrays of Fermions

We prepare high-filling two-component arrays of tens of fermionic ^{6}Li atoms in optical tweezers, with the atoms in the ground motional state of each tweezer. Using a stroboscopic technique, we configure the arrays in various two-dimensional geometries with negligible Floquet heating. A full spin- and density-resolved readout of individual sites allows us to postselect near-zero entropy initial states for fermionic quantum simulation. We prepare a correlated state in a two-by-two tunnel-coupled Hubbard plaquette, demonstrating all the building blocks for realizing a programmable fermionic quantum simulator.

Realization of a Fermi-Hubbard Optical Tweezer Array

We use lithium-6 atoms in an optical tweezer array to realize an eight-site Fermi-Hubbard chain near half filling. We achieve single site detection by combining the tweezer array with a quantum gas microscope. By reducing disorder in the energy offsets to less than the tunneling energy, we observe Mott insulators with strong antiferromagnetic correlations. The measured spin correlations allow us to put an upper bound on the entropy of 0.26(4)k_{B} per atom, comparable to the lowest entropies achieved with optical lattices. Additionally, we establish the flexibility of the tweezer platform by initializing atoms on one tweezer and observing tunneling dynamics across the array for uniform and staggered 1D geometries.

Observation of Cooper pairs in a mesoscopic two-dimensional Fermi gas

The formation of strongly correlated fermion pairs is fundamental for the emergence of fermionic superfluidity and superconductivity¹. For instance, Cooper pairs made of two electrons of opposite spin and momentum at the Fermi surface of the system are a key ingredient of Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory-the microscopic explanation of the emergence of conventional superconductivity². Understanding the mechanism behind pair formation is an ongoing challenge in the study of many strongly correlated fermionic systems³. Controllable many-body systems that host Cooper pairs would thus be desirable. Here we directly observe Cooper pairs in a mesoscopic two-dimensional Fermi gas. We apply an imaging scheme that enables us to extract the full in situ momentum distribution of a strongly interacting Fermi gas with single-particle and spin resolution⁴. Our ultracold gas enables us to freely tune between a completely non-interacting, unpaired system and weak attractions, where we find Cooper pair correlations at the Fermi surface. When increasing the attractive interactions even further, the pairs gradually turn into deeply bound molecules that break up the Fermi surface. Our mesoscopic system is closely related to the physics of nuclei, superconducting grains or quantum dots^5-7. With the precise control over the interactions, particle number and potential landscape in our experiment, the observables we establish in this work provide an approach for answering longstanding questions concerning not only such mesoscopic systems but also their connection to the macroscopic world.

Geometrical picture of the electron-electron correlation at the large-D limit

In electronic structure calculations, the correlation energy is defined as the difference between the mean field and the exact solution of the non relativistic Schrödinger equation. Such an error in the different calculations is not directly observable as there is no simple quantum mechanical operator, apart from correlation functions, that correspond to such quantity. Here, we use the dimensional scaling approach, in which the electrons are localized at the large-dimensional scaled space, to describe a geometric picture of the electronic correlation. Both, the mean field, and the exact solutions at the large-D limit have distinct geometries. Thus, the difference might be used to describe the correlation effect. Moreover, correlations can be also described and quantified by the entanglement between the electrons, which is a strong correlation without a classical analog. Entanglement is directly observable and it is one of the most striking properties of quantum mechanics and bounded by the area law for local gapped Hamiltonians of interacting many-body systems. This study opens up the possibility of presenting a geometrical picture of the electron-electron correlations and might give a bound on the correlation energy. The results at the large-D limit and at D = 3 indicate the feasibility of using the geometrical picture to get a bound on the electron-electron correlations.

Construction of Fractal Order and Phase Transition with Rydberg Atoms

We propose the construction of a many-body phase of matter with fractal structure using arrays of Rydberg atoms. The degenerate low energy excited states of this phase form a self-similar fractal structure. This phase is analogous to the so-called "type-II fracton topological states." The main challenge in realizing fractonlike models in standard condensed matter platforms is the creation of multispin interactions, since realistic systems are typically dominated by two-body interactions. In this work, we demonstrate that the van der Waals interaction and experimental tunability of Rydberg-based platforms enable the simulation of exotic phases of matter with fractal structures, and the study of a quantum phase transition involving a fractal ordered phase.

Quantum simulation of quantum many-body systems with ultracold two-electron atoms in an optical lattice

Ultracold atoms in an optical lattice provide a unique approach to study quantum many-body systems, previously only possible by using condensed-matter experimental systems. This new approach, often called quantum simulation, becomes possible because of the high controllability of the system parameters and the inherent cleanness without lattice defects and impurities. In this article, we review recent developments in this rapidly growing field of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice, with special focus on quantum simulations using our newly created quantum many-body system of two-electron atoms of ytterbium. In addition, we also mention other interesting possibilities offered by this novel experimental platform, such as applications to precision measurements for studying fundamental physics and a Rydberg atom quantum computation.

Unveiling Operator Growth Using Spin Correlation Functions

In this paper, we study non-equilibrium dynamics induced by a sudden quench of strongly correlated Hamiltonians with all-to-all interactions. By relying on a Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK)-based quench protocol, we show that the time evolution of simple spin-spin correlation functions is highly sensitive to the degree of k-locality of the corresponding operators, once an appropriate set of fundamental fields is identified. By tracking the time-evolution of specific spin-spin correlation functions and their decay, we argue that it is possible to distinguish between operator-hopping and operator growth dynamics; the latter being a hallmark of quantum chaos in many-body quantum systems. Such an observation, in turn, could constitute a promising tool to probe the emergence of chaotic behavior, rather accessible in state-of-the-art quench setups.

Preparation of Low Entropy Correlated Many-Body States via Conformal Cooling Quenches

We propose and analyze a method for preparing low entropy many-body states in isolated quantum optical systems of atoms, ions, and molecules. Our approach is based upon shifting entropy between different regions of a system by spatially modulating the magnitude of the effective Hamiltonian. We conduct two case studies, on a topological spin chain and the spinful fermionic Hubbard model, focusing on the key question: can a "conformal cooling quench" remove sufficient entropy within experimentally accessible timescales? Finite-temperature, time-dependent matrix product state calculations reveal that even moderately sized bath regions can remove enough energy and entropy density to expose coherent low-temperature physics. The protocol is particularly natural in systems with long-range interactions, such as lattice-trapped polar molecules and Rydberg-excited atoms, where the magnitude of the Hamiltonian scales directly with the interparticle spacing. To this end, we propose simple, near-term implementations of conformal cooling quenches in systems of atoms or molecules, where signatures of low-temperature phases may be observed.

Competing magnetic orders in a bilayer Hubbard model with ultracold atoms

Fermionic atoms in optical lattices have served as a useful model system in which to study and emulate the physics of strongly correlated matter. Driven by the advances of high-resolution microscopy, the current research focus is on two-dimensional systems^1-3, in which several quantum phases-such as antiferromagnetic Mott insulators for repulsive interactions^4-7 and charge-density waves for attractive interactions⁸-have been observed. However, the lattice structure of real materials, such as bilayer graphene, is composed of coupled layers and is therefore not strictly two-dimensional, which must be taken into account in simulations. Here we realize a bilayer Fermi-Hubbard model using ultracold atoms in an optical lattice, and demonstrate that the interlayer coupling controls a crossover between a planar antiferromagnetically ordered Mott insulator and a band insulator of spin-singlets along the bonds between the layers. We probe the competition of the magnetic ordering by measuring spin-spin correlations both within and between the two-dimensional layers. Our work will enable the exploration of further properties of coupled-layer Hubbard models, such as theoretically predicted superconducting pairing mechanisms^9,10.

Novel Quantum Phases of Two-Component Bosons with Pair Hopping in Synthetic Dimension

We study two-component (or pseudospin-1/2) bosons with pair hopping interactions in synthetic dimension, for which a feasible experimental scheme on a square optical lattice is also presented. Previous studies have shown that two-component bosons with on-site interspecies interaction can only generate nontrivial interspecies paired superfluid (super-counter-fluidity or pair-superfluid) states. In contrast, apart from interspecies paired superfluid, we reveal two new phases by considering this additional pair hopping interaction. These novel phases are intraspecies paired superfluid (molecular superfluid) and an exotic noninteger Mott insulator which shows a noninteger atom number at each site for each species, but an integer for total atom number.

Anomalous Spin-Charge Separation in a Driven Hubbard System

Spin-charge separation (SCS) is a striking manifestation of strong correlations in low-dimensional quantum systems, whereby a fermion splits into separate spin and charge excitations that travel at different speeds. Here, we demonstrate that periodic driving enables control over SCS in a Hubbard system near half filling. In one dimension, we predict analytically an exotic regime where charge travels slower than spin and can even become "frozen," in agreement with numerical calculations. In two dimensions, the driving slows both charge and spin and leads to complex interferences between single-particle and pair-hopping processes.

Doublon-Hole Correlations and Fluctuation Thermometry in a Fermi-Hubbard Gas

We report on the single atom and single site-resolved detection of the total density in a cold atom realization of the 2D Fermi-Hubbard model. Fluorescence imaging of doublons is achieved by splitting each lattice site into a double well, thereby separating atom pairs. Full density readout yields a direct measurement of the equation of state, including direct thermometry via the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Site-resolved density correlations reveal the Pauli hole at low filling, and strong doublon-hole correlations near half filling. These are shown to account for the difference between local and nonlocal density fluctuations in the Mott insulator. Our technique enables the study of atom-resolved charge transport in the Fermi-Hubbard model, the site-resolved observation of molecules, and the creation of bilayer Fermi-Hubbard systems.

Quantum and Thermal Phase Transitions of the Triangular SU(3) Heisenberg Model under Magnetic Fields

We study the quantum and thermal phase transition phenomena of the SU(3) Heisenberg model on triangular lattice in the presence of magnetic fields. Performing a scaling analysis on large-size cluster mean-field calculations endowed with a density-matrix renormalization-group solver, we reveal the quantum phases selected by quantum fluctuations from the massively degenerate classical ground-state manifold. The magnetization process up to saturation reflects three different magnetic phases. The low- and high-field phases have strong nematic nature, and especially the latter is found only via a nontrivial reconstruction of symmetry generators from the standard spin and quadrupolar description. We also perform a semiclassical Monte Carlo simulation to show that thermal fluctuations prefer the same three phases as well. Moreover, we find that exotic topological phase transitions driven by the binding-unbinding of fractional (half-)vortices take place, due to the nematicity of the low- and high-field phases. Possible experimental realization with alkaline-earth-like cold atoms is also discussed.

Robust Bilayer Charge Pumping for Spin- and Density-Resolved Quantum Gas Microscopy

Quantum gas microscopy has emerged as a powerful new way to probe quantum many-body systems at the microscopic level. However, layered or efficient spin-resolved readout methods have remained scarce as they impose strong demands on the specific atomic species and constrain the simulated lattice geometry and size. Here we present a novel high-fidelity bilayer readout, which can be used for full spin- and density-resolved quantum gas microscopy of two-dimensional systems with arbitrary geometry. Our technique makes use of an initial Stern-Gerlach splitting into adjacent layers of a highly stable vertical superlattice and subsequent charge pumping to separate the layers by 21  μm. This separation enables independent high-resolution images of each layer. We benchmark our method by spin- and density-resolving two-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard systems. Our technique furthermore enables the access to advanced entropy engineering schemes, spectroscopic methods, or the realization of tunable bilayer systems.

Dynamical Sign Reversal of Magnetic Correlations in Dissipative Hubbard Models

In quantum magnetism, the virtual exchange of particles mediates an interaction between spins. Here, we show that an inelastic Hubbard interaction fundamentally alters the magnetism of the Hubbard model due to dissipation in spin-exchange processes, leading to sign reversal of magnetic correlations in dissipative quantum dynamics. This mechanism is applicable to both fermionic and bosonic Mott insulators, and can naturally be realized with ultracold atoms undergoing two-body inelastic collisions. The dynamical reversal of magnetic correlations can be detected by using a double-well optical lattice or quantum-gas microscopy, the latter of which facilitates the detection of the magnetic correlations in one-dimensional systems because of spin-charge separation. Our results open a new avenue toward controlling quantum magnetism by dissipation.

String patterns in the doped Hubbard model

Understanding strongly correlated quantum many-body states is one of the most difficult challenges in modern physics. For example, there remain fundamental open questions on the phase diagram of the Hubbard model, which describes strongly correlated electrons in solids. In this work, we realize the Hubbard Hamiltonian and search for specific patterns within the individual images of many realizations of strongly correlated ultracold fermions in an optical lattice. Upon doping a cold-atom antiferromagnet, we find consistency with geometric strings, entities that may explain the relationship between hole motion and spin order, in both pattern-based and conventional observables. Our results demonstrate the potential for pattern recognition to provide key insights into cold-atom quantum many-body systems.

Anomalous Behavior of Magnetic Susceptibility Obtained by Quench Experiments in Isolated Quantum Systems

We examine how the magnetic susceptibility obtained by the quench experiment on isolated quantum systems is related to the isothermal and adiabatic susceptibilities defined in thermodynamics. Under the conditions similar to the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis, together with some additional natural ones, we prove that for translationally invariant systems the quench susceptibility as a function of wave vector k is discontinuous at k=0. Moreover, its values at k=0 and the k→0 limit coincide with the adiabatic and the isothermal susceptibilities, respectively. We give numerical predictions on how these particular behaviors can be observed in experiments on the XYZ spin chain with tunable parameters, and how they deviate when the conditions are not fully satisfied.

Spin and Charge Correlations across the Metal-to-Insulator Crossover in the Half-Filled 2D Hubbard Model

The 2D Hubbard model with nearest-neighbor hopping on the square lattice and an average of one electron per site is known to undergo an extended crossover from metallic to insulating behavior driven by proliferating antiferromagnetic correlations. We study signatures of this crossover in spin and charge correlation functions and present results obtained with controlled accuracy using the diagrammatic Monte Carlo approach in the range of parameters amenable to experimental verification with ultracold atoms in optical lattices. The qualitative changes in charge and spin correlations associated with the crossover are observed at well-separated temperature scales, which encase the intermediary regime of non-Fermi-liquid character, where local magnetic moments are formed and nonlocal fluctuations in both channels are essential.

Multiparticle Interactions for Ultracold Atoms in Optical Tweezers: Cyclic Ring-Exchange Terms

Dominant multiparticle interactions can give rise to exotic physical phases with anyonic excitations and phase transitions without local order parameters. In spin systems with a global SU(N) symmetry, cyclic ring-exchange couplings constitute the first higher-order interaction in this class. In this Letter, we propose a protocol showing how SU(N)-invariant multibody interactions can be implemented in optical tweezer arrays. We utilize the flexibility to rearrange the tweezer configuration on short timescales compared to the typical lifetimes, in combination with strong nonlocal Rydberg interactions. As a specific example, we demonstrate how a chiral cyclic ring-exchange Hamiltonian can be implemented in a two-leg ladder geometry. We study its phase diagram using density-matrix renormalization group simulations and identify phases with dominant vector chirality, a ferromagnet, and an emergent spin-1 Haldane phase. We also discuss how the proposed protocol can be utilized to implement the strongly frustrated J-Q model, a candidate for hosting a deconfined quantum critical point.

Quantum non-demolition measurement of a many-body Hamiltonian

In an ideal quantum measurement, the wave function of a quantum system collapses to an eigenstate of the measured observable, and the corresponding eigenvalue determines the measurement outcome. If the observable commutes with the system Hamiltonian, repeated measurements yield the same result and thus minimally disturb the system. Seminal quantum optics experiments have achieved such quantum non-demolition (QND) measurements of systems with few degrees of freedom. In contrast, here we describe how the QND measurement of a complex many-body observable, the Hamiltonian of an interacting many-body system, can be implemented in a trapped-ion analog quantum simulator. Through a single-shot measurement, the many-body system is prepared in a narrow band of (highly excited) energy eigenstates, and potentially even a single eigenstate. Our QND scheme, which can be carried over to other platforms of quantum simulation, provides a framework to investigate experimentally fundamental aspects of equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical physics including the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis and quantum fluctuation relations.

Extended Crossover from a Fermi Liquid to a Quasiantiferromagnet in the Half-Filled 2D Hubbard Model

The ground state of the Hubbard model with nearest-neighbor hopping on the square lattice at half filling is known to be that of an antiferromagnetic (AFM) band insulator for any on-site repulsion. At finite temperature, the absence of long-range order makes the question of how the interaction-driven insulator is realized nontrivial. We address this problem with controlled accuracy in the thermodynamic limit using self-energy diagrammatic determinant Monte Carlo and dynamical cluster approximation methods and show that development of long-range AFM correlations drives an extended crossover from Fermi liquid to insulating behavior in the parameter regime that precludes a metal-to-insulator transition. The intermediate crossover state is best described as a non-Fermi liquid with a partially gapped Fermi surface.

Time-resolved observation of spin-charge deconfinement in fermionic Hubbard chains

Elementary particles carry several quantum numbers, such as charge and spin. However, in an ensemble of strongly interacting particles, the emerging degrees of freedom can fundamentally differ from those of the individual constituents. For example, one-dimensional systems are described by independent quasiparticles carrying either spin (spinon) or charge (holon). Here, we report on the dynamical deconfinement of spin and charge excitations in real space after the removal of a particle in Fermi-Hubbard chains of ultracold atoms. Using space- and time-resolved quantum gas microscopy, we tracked the evolution of the excitations through their signatures in spin and charge correlations. By evaluating multipoint correlators, we quantified the spatial separation of the excitations in the context of fractionalization into single spinons and holons at finite temperatures.

Quantum Adiabatic Doping with Incommensurate Optical Lattices

Quantum simulations of Fermi-Hubbard models have been attracting considerable effort in the optical lattice research, with the ultracold antiferromagnetic atomic phase reached at half filling in recent years. An unresolved issue is to dope the system while maintaining the low thermal entropy. Here we propose to achieve the low temperature phase of the doped Fermi-Hubbard model using incommensurate optical lattices through adiabatic quantum evolution. In this theoretical proposal, we find that one major problem about the adiabatic doping is atomic localization in the incommensurate lattice, potentially causing an exponential slowing down of the adiabatic procedure. We study both one- and two-dimensional incommensurate optical lattices, and find that the localization prevents efficient adiabatic doping in the strong lattice regime for both cases. With density matrix renormalization group calculation, we further show that the slowing down problem in one dimension can be circumvented by considering interaction induced many-body delocalization, which is experimentally feasible using Feshbach resonance techniques. This protocol is expected to be efficient as well in two dimensions where the localization phenomenon is less stable.

Quasiexact Kondo Dynamics of Fermionic Alkaline-Earth-Like Atoms at Finite Temperatures

A recent experiment has observed the antiferromagnetic interaction between the ground state ^{1}S_{0} and the metastable state ^{3}P_{0} of ^{171}Yb atoms, which are fermionic. This observation combined with the use of state-dependent optical lattices allows for quantum simulation of the Kondo model. We propose that in this Kondo simulator the anomalous temperature dependence of transport, namely, the Kondo effect, can be detected through quench dynamics triggered by the shift of a trap potential. For this purpose, we improve the numerical efficiency of the minimally entangled typical thermal states (METTSs) algorithm by applying additional Trotter gates. Using the improved METTSs algorithm, we compute the quench dynamics of the one-dimensional Kondo model at finite temperatures quasiexactly. We find that the center-of-mass motion exhibits a logarithmic suppression with a decrease in the temperature, which is a characteristic feature of the Kondo effect.

Polarons leave a trace

Spin and charge interplay leads to stringlike excitations in the 2D Hubbard model

Ultra-low noise magnetic field for quantum gases

A ultralow noise magnetic field is essential for many branches of scientific research. Examples include experiments conducted on ultracold atoms, quantum simulations, and precision measurements. In ultracold atom experiments specifically, a bias magnetic field will often serve as a quantization axis and be applied for Zeeman splitting. As atomic states are usually sensitive to magnetic fields, a magnetic field characterized by ultralow noise as well as high stability is typically required for experimentation. For this study, a bias magnetic field is successfully stabilized at 14.5 G, with the root mean square value of the noise reduced to 18.5 μG (1.28 ppm) by placing μ-metal magnetic shields together with a dynamical feedback circuit. Long-time instability is also regulated consistently below 7 μG. The level of noise exhibited in the bias magnetic field is further confirmed by evaluating the coherence time of a Bose-Einstein condensate characterized by Rabi oscillation. It is concluded that this approach can be applied to other physical systems as well.

Interaction-Induced Fractionalization and Topological Superconductivity in the Polar Molecules Anisotropic t-J Model

We show that the interplay between antiferromagnetic interaction and hole motion gives rise to a topological superconducting phase. This is captured by the one dimensional anisotropic t-J model which can be experimentally achieved with ultracold polar molecules trapped onto an optical lattice. As a function of the anisotropy strength we find that different quantum phases appear, ranging from a gapless Luttinger liquid to spin gapped conducting and superconducting regimes. In the presence of appropriate z anisotropy, we also prove that a phase characterized by nontrivial topological order takes place. The latter is described uniquely by a finite nonlocal string parameter and presents robust edge spin fractionalization. These results allow us to explore quantum phases of matter where topological superconductivity is induced by the interaction.

Implementation of a stable, high-power optical lattice for quantum gas microscopy

We describe the design and implementation of a stable high-power 1064 nm laser system to generate optical lattices for experiments with ultracold quantum gases. The system is based on a low-noise laser amplified by an array of four heavily modified, high-power fiber amplifiers. The beam intensity is stabilized and controlled with a nonlinear feedback loop. Using real-time monitoring of the resulting optical lattice, we find the stability of the lattice site positions to be well below the lattice spacing over the course of hours. The position of the harmonic trap produced by the Gaussian envelope of the lattice beams is stable to about one lattice spacing and the long-term (six-month) relative root-mean-square stability of the lattice spacing itself is 0.5%.

Spin transport in a Mott insulator of ultracold fermions

Strongly correlated materials are expected to feature unconventional transport properties, such that charge, spin, and heat conduction are potentially independent probes of the dynamics. In contrast to charge transport, the measurement of spin transport in such materials is highly challenging. We observed spin conduction and diffusion in a system of ultracold fermionic atoms that realizes the half-filled Fermi-Hubbard model. For strong interactions, spin diffusion is driven by super-exchange and doublon-hole–assisted tunneling, and strongly violates the quantum limit of charge diffusion. The technique developed in this work can be extended to finite doping, which can shed light on the complex interplay between spin and charge in the Hubbard model.

Antiferromagnetic Spin Correlation of SU(N) Fermi Gas in an Optical Superlattice

Large-spin cold atomic systems can exhibit unique phenomena that do not appear in spin-1/2 systems. We report the observation of nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic spin correlations of a Fermi gas with SU(N) symmetry trapped in an optical lattice. The precise control of the spin degrees of freedom provided by an optical pumping technique enables us a straightforward comparison between the cases of SU(2) and SU(4). Our important finding is that the antiferromagnetic correlation is enhanced for the SU(4)-spin system compared with SU(2) as a consequence of a Pomeranchuk cooling effect. This work is an important step towards the realization of novel SU(N>2) quantum magnetism.

Strongly Correlated Bosons on a Dynamical Lattice

We study a one-dimensional system of strongly correlated bosons on a dynamical lattice. To this end, we extend the standard Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian to include extra degrees of freedom on the bonds of the lattice. We show that this minimal model exhibits phenomena reminiscent of fermion-phonon models. In particular, we discover a bosonic analog of the Peierls transition, where the translational symmetry of the underlying lattice is spontaneously broken. This provides a dynamical mechanism to obtain a topological insulator in the presence of interactions, analogous to the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model for electrons. We characterize the phase diagram numerically, showing different types of bond order waves and topological solitons. Finally, we study the possibility of implementing the model using atomic systems.

Floquet Engineering of Optical Solenoids and Quantized Charge Pumping along Tailored Paths in Two-Dimensional Chern Insulators

The insertion of a local magnetic flux, as the one created by a thin solenoid, plays an important role in gedanken experiments of quantum Hall physics. By combining Floquet engineering of artificial magnetic fields with the ability of single-site addressing in quantum gas microscopes, we propose a scheme for the realization of such local solenoid-type magnetic fields in optical lattices. We show that it can be employed to manipulate and probe elementary excitations of a topological Chern insulator. This includes quantized adiabatic charge pumping along tailored paths inside the bulk, as well as the controlled population of edge modes.

Quantum State Engineering of a Hubbard System with Ultracold Fermions

Accessing new regimes in quantum simulation requires the development of new techniques for quantum state preparation. We demonstrate the quantum state engineering of a strongly correlated many-body state of the two-component repulsive Fermi-Hubbard model on a square lattice. Our scheme makes use of an ultralow entropy doublon band insulator created through entropy redistribution. After isolating the band insulator, we change the underlying potential to expand it into a half-filled system. The final many-body state realized shows strong antiferromagnetic correlations and a temperature below the exchange energy. We observe an increase in entropy, which we find is likely caused by the many-body physics in the last step of the scheme. This technique is promising for low-temperature studies of cold-atom-based lattice models.

Full-Counting Many-Particle Dynamics: Nonlocal and Chiral Propagation of Correlations

The ability to measure single quanta allows the complete characterization of small quantum systems known as full-counting statistics. Quantum gas microscopy enables one to observe many-body systems at the single-atom precision. We extend the idea of full-counting statistics to nonequilibrium open many-particle dynamics and apply it to discuss the quench dynamics. By way of illustration, we consider an exactly solvable model to demonstrate the emergence of unique phenomena such as nonlocal and chiral propagation of correlations, leading to a concomitant oscillatory entanglement growth. We find that correlations can propagate beyond the conventional maximal speed, known as the Lieb-Robinson bound, at the cost of probabilistic nature of quantum measurement. These features become most prominent at the real-to-complex spectrum transition point of an underlying parity-time-symmetric effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. A possible experimental situation with quantum gas microscopy is discussed.

Quantum simulations with ultracold atoms in optical lattices

Quantum simulation, a subdiscipline of quantum computation, can provide valuable insight into difficult quantum problems in physics or chemistry. Ultracold atoms in optical lattices represent an ideal platform for simulations of quantum many-body problems. Within this setting, quantum gas microscopes enable single atom observation and manipulation in large samples. Ultracold atom-based quantum simulators have already been used to probe quantum magnetism, to realize and detect topological quantum matter, and to study quantum systems with controlled long-range interactions. Experiments on many-body systems out of equilibrium have also provided results in regimes unavailable to the most advanced supercomputers. We review recent experimental progress in this field and comment on future directions.

Dynamical Disentangling and Cooling of Atoms in Bilayer Optical Lattices

We show how experimentally available bilayer lattice systems can be used to prepare quantum many-body states with exceptionally low entropy in one layer, by dynamically disentangling the two layers. This disentangling operation moves one layer-subsystem A-into a regime where excitations in A develop a single-particle gap. As a result, this operation maps directly to cooling for subsystem A, with entropy being shuttled to the other layer. For both bosonic and fermionic atoms, we study the corresponding dynamics showing that disentangling can be realized cleanly in ongoing experiments. The corresponding entanglement entropies are directly measurable with quantum gas microscopes, and, as a tool for producing lower-entropy states, this technique opens a range of applications beginning with simplifying production of magnetically ordered states of bosons and fermions.

Full Counting Statistics for Interacting Fermions with Determinantal Quantum Monte Carlo Simulations

We present a method for computing the full probability distribution function of quadratic observables such as particle number or magnetization for the Fermi-Hubbard model within the framework of determinantal quantum Monte Carlo calculations. Especially in cold atom experiments with single-site resolution, such a full counting statistics can be obtained from repeated projective measurements. We demonstrate that the full counting statistics can provide important information on the size of preformed pairs. Furthermore, we compute the full counting statistics of the staggered magnetization in the repulsive Hubbard model at half filling and find excellent agreement with recent experimental results. We show that current experiments are capable of probing the difference between the Hubbard model and the limiting Heisenberg model.