Abstract Ultracold atoms in optical lattices have emerged as powerful quantum simulators of translationally invariant systems with many applications in e.g. strongly-correlated and topological systems. However, the ability to locally tune all Hamiltonian parameters remains an outstanding goal that would enable the simulation of a wider range of quantum phenomena. Motivated by recent advances in quantum gas microscopes and optical tweezers, we here show theoretically how local control over individual tunnelling links in an optical lattice can be achieved by incorporating local time-periodic potentials. We propose to periodically modulate the on-site energy of individual lattice sites and employ Floquet theory to demonstrate how this provides full individual control over the tunnelling amplitudes in one dimension. We provide various example configurations realising interesting topological models such as extended Su–Schrieffer–Heeger models that would be challenging to realise by other means. Extending to two dimensions, we demonstrate that local periodic driving in a Lieb lattice engineers a two-dimensional (2D) network with fully controllable tunnelling magnitudes. In a three-site plaquette, we show full simultaneous control over the relative tunnelling amplitudes and the gauge-invariant flux piercing the plaquette, providing a clear stepping stone to building a fully programmable 2D tight-binding model. We also explicitly demonstrate how utilise our technique to generate a magnetic field gradient in 2D. This local modulation scheme is applicable to many different lattice geometries.
Abstract Ultracold atoms in optical lattices have emerged as powerful quantum simulators of translationally invariant systems with many applications in e.g. strongly-correlated and topological systems. However, the ability to locally tune all Hamiltonian parameters remains an outstanding goal that would enable the simulation of a wider range of quantum phenomena. Motivated by recent advances in quantum gas microscopes and optical tweezers, we here show theoretically how local control over individual tunnelling links in an optical lattice can be achieved by incorporating local time-periodic potentials. We propose to periodically modulate the on-site energy of individual lattice sites and employ Floquet theory to demonstrate how this provides full individual control over the tunnelling amplitudes in one dimension. We provide various example configurations realising interesting topological models such as extended Su–Schrieffer–Heeger models that would be challenging to realise by other means. Extending to two dimensions, we demonstrate that local periodic driving in a Lieb lattice engineers a two-dimensional (2D) network with fully controllable tunnelling magnitudes. In a three-site plaquette, we show full simultaneous control over the relative tunnelling amplitudes and the gauge-invariant flux piercing the plaquette, providing a clear stepping stone to building a fully programmable 2D tight-binding model. We also explicitly demonstrate how utilise our technique to generate a magnetic field gradient in 2D. This local modulation scheme is applicable to many different lattice geometries.
We report on the experimental implementation of tunable occupation-dependent tunneling in a Bose-Hubbard system of ultracold atoms via time-periodic modulation of the on-site interaction energy. The tunneling rate is inferred from a time-resolved measurement of the lattice site occupation after a quantum quench. We demonstrate coherent control of the tunneling dynamics in the correlated many-body system, including full suppression of tunneling as predicted within the framework of Floquet theory. We find that the tunneling rate explicitly depends on the atom number difference in neighboring lattice sites. Our results may open up ways to realize artificial gauge fields that feature density dependence with ultracold atoms.
Quantum simulation with ultracold atoms provides a versatile platform to emulate condensed-matter models. In particular, momentum-space lattices enable the realization of programmable tight-binding Hamiltonians. Here, we generalize this approach by exploiting quantum resonances of a periodically driven (shaken) rotor within the Floquet framework. Using first-order time-dependent perturbation theory, we derive analytical relations between the lattice modulation and the effective tight-binding parameters, and identify explicit solutions for several resonances. We further apply optimal-control techniques to enhance the multi-period Floquet fidelity and extend the accessible parameter regimes. Experimentally, we implement this scheme with a Bose-Einstein condensate of rubidium-87 atoms in a dynamically modulated optical lattice. We demonstrate the simulation of the Rice-Mele model, including band-structure measurements and topological edge states, as well as momentum Bloch oscillations, and superlattice configurations with controlled periodicity. Our results establish quantum resonances as a powerful resource for Floquet engineering of tight-binding models in momentum space.
We experimentally investigate a scheme for studying lattice transport phenomena, based on the controlled momentum-space dynamics of ultracold atomic matter waves. In the effective tight-binding models that can be simulated, we demonstrate that this technique allows for a local and time-dependent control over all system parameters, and additionally allows for single-site resolved detection of atomic populations. We demonstrate full control over site-to-site off-diagonal tunneling elements (amplitude and phase) and diagonal site energies, through the observation of continuous-time quantum walks, Bloch oscillations, and negative tunneling. These capabilities open up new prospects in the experimental study of disordered and topological systems.
Abstract Topological many-body phases of matter exhibit remarkable electronic properties and ultracold atoms in optical lattices constitute promising candidates to study them in a well-controlled environment. In two-dimensional (2D) electron gases topological phases may emerge in the presence of strong magnetic fields. This situation is not directly applicable to cold atoms because they are charge neutral. Therefore, novel experimental techniques have been developed to engineer novel lattice systems, whose Hamiltonian is formally equivalent to the one of charged particles in magnetic fields. In this Tutorial, we introduce a paradigmatic topological lattice model, the Hofstadter model, and explain how it can be implemented with ultracold atoms using laser-assisted tunneling. The technique is based on imprinting phases on the tunneling matrix elements using additional laser beams. These phases are reminiscent of Aharonov–Bohm phases and can be interpreted as a magnetic flux piercing the lattice unit cell. We present experimental results on the cyclotron-like dynamics of neutral atoms in isolated four-site square plaquettes and discuss the first measurement of a 2D topological invariant, the Chern number, in artificially generated Hofstadter bands. The work presented in this Tutorial was one of the four shortlisted finalists of the 2016 DPG SAMOP dissertation prize.
This thesis presents quantum simulation of strongly-correlated systems beyond standard Hubbard models, using ultracold fermionic potassium atoms in both static and periodically-driven optical superlattices. For this study, we utilize a three-dimensional optical lattice setup, controlling particle interactions via magnetic Feshbach resonances and tunneling between lattice sites through optical lattice intensity. High-resolution absorption imaging combined with radio-frequency spectroscopy distinguishes between singly and doubly occupied sites. To enhance our systems capabilities beyond the standard Hubbard model, we extend the apparatus with an in-plane optical superlattice, creating a bi-chromatic structure by superposition of two optical lattices with commensurate lattice spacings. Using a phase locked loop with an environmental feed forward, we create an excellent phase stability of the superlattice exceeding 3 mrad. This precision allows us to explore both static and periodically-driven one-dimensional tight-binding models with strong interactions. We characterize the static superlattice through radio-frequency spectroscopy and Rabi oscillations, and validate the experimental data against theoretical calculations. In a tilted superlattice configuration, we successfully prepare and detect repulsively bound atom pairs, representing a highly excited eigenstate of the system. Furthermore, we demonstrate control over pair tunneling dynamics in a double-well potential using Floquet engineering, employing a low-noise periodic modulation of the optical superlattice tilt. Using an adiabatic band mapping technique, we directly observe the tunneling dynamics in the driven superlattice. We realize dynamic localization in quarter-filled wells and density-assisted tunneling up to the third harmonic order in half-filled wells. We observe a crossover from density-assited tunneling to dominant pair tunneling by tuning the effective interactions. Remarkably, the pair tunneling is not only enhanced relative to the suppressed single-particle tunneling but also exceeds the superexchange rate of a static double-well by more than a factor of two. This opens the possibility to study many-body systems with dominant pair tunneling, that extend beyond the standard Hubbard model.
Simulating quantum dynamics of lattice gauge theories (LGTs) is an exciting frontier in quantum science. Programmable quantum simulators based on neutral atom arrays are a promising approach to achieve this goal, since strong Rydberg blockade interactions can be used to naturally create low energy subspaces that can encode local gauge constraints. However, realizing regimes of LGTs where both matter and gauge fields exhibit significant dynamics requires the presence of tunable multi-body interactions such as those associated with ring exchange, which are challenging to realize directly. Here, we develop a method for generating such interactions based on time-periodic driving. Our approach utilizes controlled deviations from time-reversed trajectories, which are accessible in constrained PXP-type models via the application of frequency modulated global pulses. We show that such driving gives rise to a family of effective Hamiltonians with multi-body interactions whose strength is non-perturbative in their respective operator weight. We apply this approach to a two-dimensional U(1) LGT on the Kagome lattice, where we engineer strong six-body magnetic plaquette terms that are tunable relative to the kinetic energy of matter excitations, demonstrating access to previously unexplored dynamical regimes. Potential generalizations and prospects for experimental implementations are discussed.