The emergence of local phases in a trapped two-component Fermi gas in an optical lattice is studied using quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We treat temperatures that are comparable to or lower than those presently achievable in experiments and large enough systems that both magnetic and paired phases can be detected by inspection of the behavior of suitable short-range correlations. We use the latter to suggest the interaction strength and temperature range at which experimental observation of incipient magnetism and d-wave pairing are more likely and evaluate the relation between entropy and temperature in two-dimensional confined fermionic systems.
The emergence of local phases in a trapped two-component Fermi gas in an optical lattice is studied using quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We treat temperatures that are comparable to or lower than those presently achievable in experiments and large enough systems that both magnetic and paired phases can be detected by inspection of the behavior of suitable short-range correlations. We use the latter to suggest the interaction strength and temperature range at which experimental observation of incipient magnetism and d-wave pairing are more likely and evaluate the relation between entropy and temperature in two-dimensional confined fermionic systems.
The exchange coupling between quantum mechanical spins lies at the origin of quantum magnetism. We report on the observation of nearest-neighbor magnetic spin correlations emerging in the many-body state of a thermalized Fermi gas in an optical lattice. The key to obtaining short-range magnetic order is a local redistribution of entropy within the lattice structure. This is achieved in a tunable-geometry optical lattice, which also enables the detection of the magnetic correlations. We load a low-temperature two-component Fermi gas with repulsive interactions into either a dimerized or an anisotropic simple cubic lattice. For both systems the correlations manifest as an excess number of singlets as compared to triplets consisting of two atoms with opposite spins. For the anisotropic lattice, we determine the transverse spin correlator from the singlet-triplet imbalance and observe antiferromagnetic correlations along one spatial axis. Our work paves the way for addressing open problems in quantum magnetism using ultracold fermions in optical lattices as quantum simulators.
We study a one-dimensional two-component Fermi gas in a harmonic trapping potential using finite-temperature lattice quantum Monte Carlo methods. We are able to compute observables in the canonical ensemble via an efficient projective approach. Results for density profiles, correlations, as well as energy-related observables are presented for systems with up to 80 particles and various temperatures. Our simulations reproduce known numerical results and compare well against available experimental data close to the ground state, while at higher temperature they are benchmarked against the exact solution of the two-particle system. This provides an indication that a standard lattice discretization is sufficient to capture the physics of the trapped system. In the special case of a spin-imbalanced gas, we find no sign problem in the studied parameter ranges, allowing access without the need of specialized methods. This includes simulations close to the ground state and at large population imbalance, where we present results for density correlations, indicating pairing at finite total momentum.
Pairing in a population-imbalanced Fermi system in a two-dimensional optical lattice is studied using determinant quantum Monte Carlo simulations and mean-field calculations. The approximation-free numerical results show a wide range of stability of the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov phase. Contrary to claims of fragility with increased dimensionality, we find that this phase is stable across a wide range of values for the polarization, temperature, and interaction strength. Both homogeneous and harmonically trapped systems display pairing with finite center-of-mass momentum, with clear signatures either in momentum space or real space, which could be observed in cold-atomic gases loaded in an optical lattice. We also use the harmonic level basis in the confined system and find that pairs can form between particles occupying different levels, which can be seen as the analog of the finite center-of-mass momentum pairing in the translationally invariant case. Finally, we perform mean-field calculations for the uniform and confined systems and show the results to be in good agreement with quantum Monte Carlo. This leads to a simple picture of the different pairing mechanisms, depending on the filling and confining potential.
One of the challenging features of studying model Hamiltonians with cold atoms in optical lattices is the presence of spatial inhomogeneities induced by the confining potential, which results in the coexistence of different phases.This paper presents quantum Monte Carlo results comparing methods for confining fermions in two dimensions, including conventional diagonal confinement, a recently proposed ``off-diagonal confinement'', as well as a trap which produces uniform density in the lattice. At constant entropy and for currently accessible temperatures, we show that (1) diagonal confinement results in the strongest signature of magnetic order, primarily because of its judicious use of entropy sinks at the trap edge and that (2) for d-wave pairing, a trap with uniform density is optimal and can be effectively implemented via off-diagonal confinement. This feature is important to any prospective search for superconductivity in optical lattices.
Quantum magnetism originates from the exchange coupling between quantum mechanical spins. Here, we report on the observation of nearest-neighbor magnetic correlations emerging in the many-body state of a thermalized Fermi gas in an optical lattice. The key to obtaining short-range magnetic order is a local redistribution of entropy, which allows temperatures below the exchange energy for a subset of lattice bonds. When loading a repulsively interacting gas into either dimerized or anisotropic simple cubic configurations of a tunable-geometry lattice, we observe an excess of singlets as compared with triplets consisting of two opposite spins. For the anisotropic lattice, the transverse spin correlator reveals antiferromagnetic correlations along one spatial axis. Our work facilitates addressing open problems in quantum magnetism through the use of quantum simulation.
In this thesis, I present the experimental realisation of the two-dimensional Hubbard model with ultracold fermionic Potassium-40 atoms in optical lattices. By tuning the dimensionality, kinetic and interaction in the optical lattices, we perform an analogue quantum simulation to explore the phase diagram of the Hubbard model. \n \nThe first key result is the experimental observation of particle-hole symmetry, namely a phase mapping between repulsive and attractive interactions. We compare a density-ordered, Mott-insulating phase with repulsive interaction to a spin-ordered, preformed pair phase and found excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction. The precise control and excellent detection capability of our quantum gas apparatus allow us to validate the particle-hole symmetry, and utilise it to explore quantum phases with a novel approach. \n \nNext, we investigate the spin-ordering on the repulsive side. By implementing a novel scheme based on coherent manipulation of spin correlations, we probe the anti-ferromagnetic ordering in the low-temperature phase diagram. The momentum-resolved spin correlations permit the reconstruction of spatial correlators without site-resolved imaging fidelity. \n \nFinally, we probe the attractive side of the phase diagram with a focus in pairing phenomenon, in which we draw a close analogy with BCS-BEC crossovers present in high-temperature superconducting cuprates and trapped ultracold Fermi gases. From the pair correlation function derived from thermodynamics observables, we observe the competition between the effective Pauli repulsion in fermionic systems and the on-site attraction we implemented.