The Fermi-Hubbard model is a key concept in condensed matter physics and provides crucial insights into electronic and magnetic properties of materials. Yet, the intricate nature of Fermi systems poses a barrier to answering important questions concerning d-wave superconductivity and quantum magnetism. Recently, it has become possible to experimentally realize the Fermi-Hubbard model using a fermionic quantum gas loaded into an optical lattice. In this atomic approach to the Fermi-Hubbard model, the Hamiltonian is a direct result of the optical lattice potential created by interfering laser fields and short-ranged ultracold collisions. It provides a route to simulate the physics of the Hamiltonian and to address open questions and novel challenges of the underlying many-body system. This review gives an overview of the current efforts in understanding and realizing experiments with fermionic atoms in optical lattices and discusses key experiments in the metallic, band-insulating, superfluid, and Mott-insulating regimes.
The Fermi-Hubbard model is a key concept in condensed matter physics and provides crucial insights into electronic and magnetic properties of materials. Yet, the intricate nature of Fermi systems poses a barrier to answering important questions concerning d-wave superconductivity and quantum magnetism. Recently, it has become possible to experimentally realize the Fermi-Hubbard model using a fermionic quantum gas loaded into an optical lattice. In this atomic approach to the Fermi-Hubbard model, the Hamiltonian is a direct result of the optical lattice potential created by interfering laser fields and short-ranged ultracold collisions. It provides a route to simulate the physics of the Hamiltonian and to address open questions and novel challenges of the underlying many-body system. This review gives an overview of the current efforts in understanding and realizing experiments with fermionic atoms in optical lattices and discusses key experiments in the metallic, band-insulating, superfluid, and Mott-insulating regimes.
Ultracold atomic gases provide a fantastic platform to implement quantum simulators and investigate a variety of models initially introduced in condensed matter physics or other areas. One of the most promising applications of quantum simulation is the study of strongly correlated Fermi gases, for which exact theoretical results are not always possible with state-of-the-art approaches. Here, we review recent progress of the quantum simulation of the emblematic Fermi–Hubbard model with ultracold atoms. After introducing the Fermi–Hubbard model in the context of condensed matter, its implementation in ultracold atom systems, and its phase diagram, we review landmark experimental achievements, from the early observation of the onset of quantum degeneracy and superfluidity to the demonstration of the Mott insulator regime and the emergence of long-range anti-ferromagnetic order. We conclude by discussing future challenges, including the possible observation of high- T c superconductivity, transport properties, and the interplay of strong correlations and disorder or topology.
This dissertation summarizes my recent work regarding systems of strongly interacting fermionic atoms in optical lattices. This work addresses the combination of two experimental techniques that have been the subject of much recent research in ultracold atom physics. One is the use of optical lattices, which provide a means to realize diverse interaction configurations within a clean, controllable system. The other is the use of magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances to control the strength of the interatomic interaction. Together, these techniques offer the possibility of an experimental realization of many important model Hamiltonians of condensed matter physics, and may also lead to the discovery of new physics. Recent study of this system has shown that strong interactions near Feshbach resonance will lead to the population of multiple lattice bands, and that collisions between atoms on neighboring sites cannot be neglected. These effects lead to a complicated Hamiltonian, but one which can be simplified to an effective single-band model equivalent to the generalized Hubbard model (GHM), which is an extension of the Hubbard model that includes correlated hopping terms. My main results concern the study of this model. The strong correlations between the particles make it difficult to definitively determine the many body physics of the GHM. As a first approach to understanding the GHM in optical lattices, I focus mainly on cases where the problem is greatly simplified by allowing interactions among only small groups of lattice sites. This restriction can be implemented in experiments using an optical superlattice potential. Our results include a proposed scheme (based on double-well superlattices) to empirically verify that the GHM describes this system and to directly measure the various parameters of this model. Other results include exact solutions on four-site square plaquettes, which demonstrate that d-wave excitations can occur in the low-energy states. By using a superlattice to give an array of weakly coupled plaquettes, one can thus produce a d-wave superfluid state. This is of relevance to the study of high-Tc superconductors, although I note certain key differences between the sort of d-wave superfluid described here and that of the superconductors.
The ability to cool fermions in optical lattices to ultra cold temperatures has led to an interdisciplinary area of research, that has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. An interesting development in this area is the possibility to realize models for strongly correlated fermions in the laboratory, such as the fermionic Hubbard Model. Determinantal Quantum Monte Carlo simulations have proven to be an important tool in the study of fermionic atoms. Nonetheless, it is important to compare the results and efficiency of different methods. Here comparisons with Numerical Linked Cluster Expansion and Dynamical Mean Field Theory data for double occupation and short range correlations, both relevant to current optical lattice experiments, will be presented and discussed. Another topic relevant in the context of optical lattice experiments is the study of metal insulator transitions. Indeed, the Mott insulating phase has been realized and observed in two-flavor mixtures of fermionic atoms loaded on optical lattices, being characterized both by the double occupation and the compressibility. An interesting point that has been addressed in the literature over the years is whether the same fermion-fermion interaction, responsible for the Mott insulating state, could drive an insulating system metallic. Here we show that, when fermions are loaded in optical lattices with spatially varying interactions a correlation induced Mott insulator to metal transition can take place. The spatial modulation of the interactions was recently demonstrated and opens the possibility for the experimental realization of such exotic phases.
Ultracold atoms in optical lattices provide an extremely clean and controllable setting to explore quantum many-body phases of matter. Here we give a brief review of the strong-correlation physics that has been realized using such ultracold atoms in optical lattices ranging from the realization of Hubbard models to studies of quantum magnetism and the detection of single atoms with lattice site resolution. All this has opened up fundamentally new opportunities for the investigation of quantum many-body systems. Introduction Over the past years, ultracold atoms in optical lattices have emerged as versatile new systems to explore the physics of quantum many-body systems. On the one hand, they can be helpful in gaining a better understanding of known phases of matter and their dynamical behavior; on the other hand, they allow one to realize completely novel quantum systems that have not been studied before in nature [1, 2, 3]. Commonly, the approach of exploring quantum many-body systems in such a way is referred to as “quantum simulations.” Examples of some of the first strongly interacting many-body phases that have been realized both in lattices and in the continuum include the quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator [4, 5, 6], fermionic Mott insulators [7, 8], the achievement of a Tonks- Girardeau gas [9, 10], and the realization of the Bose-Einsten condensate (BEC)– Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) crossover (see also Chapter 12) in Fermi gas mixture [11] using Feshbach resonances [12]. In almost all of these experiments, detection was limited to time-of-flight imaging or more refined derived techniques that mainly characterized the momentum distribution of the quantum gas [2]. For several years, researchers in the field have therefore aspired to employ in situ single-particle detection methods for the analysis of ultracold quantum gases. Only recently has it become possible to implement such imaging techniques, marking a milestone for the characterization and manipulation of ultracold quantum gases [13, 14, 15, 16, 17]. In our discussion, we will focus on one of the most successful of these techniques based on high-resolution fluorescence imaging. Despite being a rather new technique, such quantum gas microscopy has already proven to be an enabling technology for probing and manipulating quantum many-body systems. For the first time, controllable and strongly interacting many-body systems, as realized with ultracold atoms, could be observed on a local scale [17, 16].
Various topics at the interface between condensed matter physics and the physics of ultra-cold fermionic atoms in optical lattices are discussed. The lectures start with basic considerations on energy scales, and on the regimes in which a description by an effective Hubbard model is valid. Qualitative ideas about the Mott transition are then presented, both for bosons and fermions, as well as mean-field theories of this phenomenon. Antiferromagnetism of the fermionic Hubbard model at half-filling is briefly reviewed. The possibility that interaction effects facilitate adiabatic cooling is discussed, and the importance of using entropy as a thermometer is emphasized. Geometrical frustration of the lattice, by suppressing spin long-range order, helps revealing genuine Mott physics and exploring unconventional quantum magnetism. The importance of measurement techniques to probe quasiparticle excitations in cold fermionic systems is emphasized, and a recent proposal based on stimulated Raman scattering briefly reviewed. The unconventional nature of these excitations in cuprate superconductors is emphasized.
Various topics at the interface between condensed matter physics and the physics of ultra-cold fermionic atoms in optical lattices are discussed. The lectures start with basic considerations on energy scales, and on the regimes in which a description by an effective Hubbard model is valid. Qualitative ideas about the Mott transition are then presented, both for bosons and fermions, as well as mean-field theories of this phenomenon. Antiferromagnetism of the fermionic Hubbard model at half-filling is briefly reviewed. The possibility that interaction effects facilitate adiabatic cooling is discussed, and the importance of using entropy as a thermometer is emphasized. Geometrical frustration of the lattice, by suppressing spin long-range order, helps revealing genuine Mott physics and exploring unconventional quantum magnetism. The importance of measurement techniques to probe quasiparticle excitations in cold fermionic systems is emphasized, and a recent proposal based on stimulated Raman scattering briefly reviewed. The unconventional nature of these excitations in cuprate superconductors is emphasized.