In this thesis we investigate strongly-correlated states of ultracold bosonic atoms in rotating ring lattices and arrays of double-well potentials. In the first part of the thesis, we study the tunneling dynamics of ultracold bosons in double-well potentials. In the non-interacting limit single-particle transitions dominate, while in the interaction-dominated regime correlated tunneling of all particles prevails. At intermediate times of the many-particle flopping process correlated states occur, but the timescales of these processes increase dramatically with the number of particles. Using an array of double-well potentials, a large number of such few-particle superposition states can be produced in parallel. In the second part of the thesis, we study the effects of rotation on ultracold bosons confined to one-dimensional ring lattices. We find that at commensurate filling there exists a critical rotation frequency, at which the ground state of the weakly-interacting gas is fragmented into a macroscopic superposition of different quasi-momentum states. We demonstrate that the generation of such superposition states using slightly non-uniform ring lattices has several practical advantages. Moreover, we show that different quasi-momentum states can be distinguished in time-of-flight absorption imaging and propose to probe correlations via the many-body oscillations induced by a sudden change in the rotation frequency. Finally, we compare these macroscopic superposition states to those occurring in superconducting quantum interference devices. In the third part of the thesis, we demonstrate the creation of entangled states with ultracold bosonic atoms by dynamical manipulation of the shape of the lattice potential. To this end, we consider an optical superlattice that allows both the splitting of each site into a double-well potential and the variation of the height of the potential barrier between the sites. We show how to use this array of double-well potentials to perform entangling operations between neighboring qubits encoded on the Zeeman levels of the atoms. As one possible application, we present a method of realizing a resource state for measurement-based quantum computation via Bell-pair measurements. In the final part of the thesis, we study ultracold bosons on a two-dimensional square lattice in the presence of an effective magnetic field and point out a couple of features this system has in common with ultracold bosons in one-dimensional rotating ring lattices.
In this thesis we investigate strongly-correlated states of ultracold bosonic atoms in rotating ring lattices and arrays of double-well potentials. In the first part of the thesis, we study the tunneling dynamics of ultracold bosons in double-well potentials. In the non-interacting limit single-particle transitions dominate, while in the interaction-dominated regime correlated tunneling of all particles prevails. At intermediate times of the many-particle flopping process correlated states occur, but the timescales of these processes increase dramatically with the number of particles. Using an array of double-well potentials, a large number of such few-particle superposition states can be produced in parallel. In the second part of the thesis, we study the effects of rotation on ultracold bosons confined to one-dimensional ring lattices. We find that at commensurate filling there exists a critical rotation frequency, at which the ground state of the weakly-interacting gas is fragmented into a macroscopic superposition of different quasi-momentum states. We demonstrate that the generation of such superposition states using slightly non-uniform ring lattices has several practical advantages. Moreover, we show that different quasi-momentum states can be distinguished in time-of-flight absorption imaging and propose to probe correlations via the many-body oscillations induced by a sudden change in the rotation frequency. Finally, we compare these macroscopic superposition states to those occurring in superconducting quantum interference devices. In the third part of the thesis, we demonstrate the creation of entangled states with ultracold bosonic atoms by dynamical manipulation of the shape of the lattice potential. To this end, we consider an optical superlattice that allows both the splitting of each site into a double-well potential and the variation of the height of the potential barrier between the sites. We show how to use this array of double-well potentials to perform entangling operations between neighboring qubits encoded on the Zeeman levels of the atoms. As one possible application, we present a method of realizing a resource state for measurement-based quantum computation via Bell-pair measurements. In the final part of the thesis, we study ultracold bosons on a two-dimensional square lattice in the presence of an effective magnetic field and point out a couple of features this system has in common with ultracold bosons in one-dimensional rotating ring lattices.
Ultracold Bose gases as precise quantum simulators have emerged amongst the leaders in the current race – a second quantum revolution – toward the promise of unfathomable sensitivity, scope, and speed of a new era of technology. The only path leading to these advancements is through many-body descriptions, especially in regimes where interatomic interactions render many approximations incompatible with the physics. The research in this dissertation unlocks a piece of this mystery through investigations of many-body quantum tunneling of ultracold bosons in optical lattices. A key mechanism to characterizing the dynamics, matrix product state simulations equip the many-body toolbox with efficient optimization of large Hilbert spaces together with correlation and entropy measures that help clarify when semiclassical or mean-field approximations fail. In this thesis we obtain the following results. Macroscopic quantum tunneling escape of a Bose-Einstein condensate – comprised of tens of thousands of 87Rb atoms – from a single well, as portrayed through both experiment and theory, highlights non-exponential decay in the number of atoms trapped behind the barrier. Additionally, explicit symmetry breaking of a biperiodic optical lattice ring trap to a uniform one illustrates a critical symmetry-breaking strength at which the system transitions from a state of remembering to a state of forgetting its initial symmetry state; this symmetry memory indicates a new form of quantum dynamics that requires the quantum advantage for scaling up particle number and lattice sites. Extensive characterization of dynamical regimes in a bosonic Josephson junction – underlaid by an optical lattice as described by the Bose-Hubbard model – reveal substantial deviation of many body dynamics from the mean field or semiclassical predictions underlying the usual operating regime of Josephson junctions. Initial state population and phase yield insight into dynamic tunneling regimes of a quasi one-dimensional double well potential, through the Z2 spontaneous symmetry-breaking phase transition from Josephson oscillations to macroscopic self-trapping. We demonstrate that with increasing repulsive interaction strength, the U(1) superfluid-Mott insulator phase transition induces localized dynamics in the number density, such as particle-hole and soliton formation. Moreover, g^(2) correlations unveil a new dynamic regime – the Fock flashlight. The new field of atomtronics – or atomic circuits – has emerged with many studies of weakly-interacting condensates. In contrast, and building on our work on many-body effects in the double wells underlying Josephson junctions, we present a proof-of-principle of a Mott-insulating atomtronic switch that requires strongly-interacting bosons. Through transient analysis, we reveal that hole conductance can be modulated via tuning interaction strength through a critical value, thus propelling the state to the next ``wedding cake'' layer of the Mott insulating structure. This critical interaction strength is a…
A system of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice provides a powerful platform for quantum simulation. In our laboratory, we use a quantum gas microscope to tune lattice parameters not only in a global scale but also at the level of individual sites. This allows us to control and detect the quantum state of interacting many-body systems as well as to engineer a broad class of Hamiltonians with high fidelity. Leveraging this versatility, we can realize several types of strongly correlated bosonic systems, which present intriguing behaviors and implement novel phases of matter. Analyzing snapshots of the atomic distribution with single-site resolution, we measure correlations and entanglement within these systems to reveal their main features, including non-equilibrium dynamics and quantum phase transitions. In this thesis, I present the works performed by our team for four different types of systems. First of all, I briefly introduce the behavior of a 1D disordered system in the critical regime between the thermal and the many-body-localized phases. In particular, we discuss what happens when a disordered and a non-disordered region are coupled via a single site. We find evidence for accelerated transport of thermal inclusion into the localized region, which shows the existence of a quantum avalanche, i.e. thermalization via accelerated transport throughout the localized system. In the second part, we realize a fractional quantum Hall state using an artificial gauge field, by implementing an adiabatic preparation protocol. We identify a topological phase transition in our system and characterize several key physical features expected for a Laughlin state by measuring density correlations and Hall conductivity. The next topic of this thesis relates to quantum magnetism. Mapping nearest hopping in a tilted optical lattice to spin flips, we realize a finite one-dimensional chain of 1/2-spins with closed boundary conditions. We perform an in-depth investigation on behaviors shown across the quantum phase transition between paramagnetic and antiferromagnetic ground states, including the evolution of the magnetization and Néel order parameter. Also, we find evidence for quantum superposition at the many-body level as a result of geometric frustration. In the last chapter, I report the experimental realization of a novel dipolar Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian, based on a strongly tilted lattice system. When the tilt becomes the dominant energy scale, the Hamiltonian is fragmented, and the system behaves in a way that conserves dipole moment. Starting from a 1D chain of unity filled sites, we generate individual dipolar and anti-dipolar excitations at desired pinpoints. We observe quantum walks of these dipolar quasi-particles as well as their scattering dynamics, which allows us to study this new type of Hamiltonian using a bottom-up approach.
We review some recent developments in the theory of rotating atomic gases. These studies have thrown light on the process of nucleation of vortices in regimes where mean-field methods are inadequate. In our review, we shall describe and compare quantum vortex nucleation of a dilute ultracold bosonic gas trapped in three different configurations: a one-dimensional ring lattice, a one-dimensional ring superlattice and a two-dimensional asymmetric harmonic trap. In all of them, there is a critical rotation frequency, at which the particles in the ground state exhibit strong quantum correlations. However, the entanglement properties vary significantly from case to case. We explain these differences by characterizing the intermediate states that participate in the vortex nucleation process. Finally, we show that noise correlations are sensitive to these differences. These new studies have, therefore, shown how novel quantum states may be produced and probed in future experiments with rotating neutral atom systems.
In this dissertation, we study rotational properties of ultracold bosonic quantum gases in two trapped configurations, a quasi-two-dimensional gas in a harmonic trap and a quasi-one-dimensional gas in a toroidal trap. First, we investigate the effects of correlations on the properties of the ground state of the rotating harmonically-trapped Bose gas by adding Bogoliubov fluctuations to the mean-field ground state of an N-particle single-vortex system. We demonstrate that the fluctuation-induced correlations lower the energy compared to that of the mean-field ground state, that the vortex core is pushed slightly away from the center of the trap, and that an unstable mode with negative energy (for rotations slower than a critical frequency) emerges in the energy spectrum, thus, pointing to a better state for slow rotation. We construct mean-field ground states of 0-, 1-, and 2-vortex states as a function of rotation rate and determine the critical frequencies for transitions between these states, as well as the critical frequency for appearance of a metastable state with an off-center vortex and its image vortex in the evanescent tail of the cloud. Then, we show how the configuration-space form of the above-mentioned Bogoliubov ground-state wave function of a bosonic condensate with a single vortex in a harmonic trap can be described in terms of bosonic Jastrow correlations. We then generalize this result to study the effects of such correlations on a mean-field vortex lattice state and show that the included correlations lower the energy below that of the mean-field state. Although the reduction is relatively small, it is a precursor of the more general expected effect of correlations in describing the melting of the vortex lattice at a high angular momentum per particle. Finally, we study the stability and dynamics of an ultracold bosonic gas trapped in a toroidal geometry and driven by rotation in the absence of dissipation. We first delineate, via the Bogoliubov mode expansion, the regions of stability and the nature of instabilities of the system for both repulsive and attractive interaction strengths. To study the response of the system to variations in the rotation rate, we introduce a “disorder” potential, breaking the rotational symmetry. We demonstrate the breakdown of adiabaticity as the rotation rate is slowly varied and find forced tunneling between the eigenstates of the system. The nonadiabaticity is signaled by the appearance of a swallow-tail loop in the lowest-energy level, a general sign of hysteresis. Then, we show that this system is in one-to-one correspondence with a trapped gas in a double-well potential and thus exhibits macroscopic quantum self-trapping. Finally, we show that self-trapping is a direct manifestation of the behavior of the lowest-energy level.
Optical lattices make it possible to trap and coherently control large ensembles of ultracold atoms. They provide the possibility to create lattice potentials that mimic the structure of solid-state systems, and to control these potentials dynamically. In this thesis, we study how dynamical manipulations of the lattice geometry can be used to perform different tasks, ranging from quantum information processing to the creation of diatomic molecules. We first examine the dynamical properties of ultracold atoms trapped in a lattice whose periodicity is dynamically doubled. We derive a model describing the dynamics of the atoms during this process, and compute the different interaction parameters of this model. We investigate different ways of using this lattice manipulation to optimise the initialisation time of a Mott-insulating state with one atom per site, and provide a scaling law related to the interaction parameters of the system. We go on to show that entangling operations between the spin of adjacent atoms are realisable with optical lattices forming arrays of double-well potentials. We study the creation of a lattice containing a spin-encoded Bell-pair in each double-well, and show that resilient, highly-entangled many-body states are realisable using lattice manipulations. We show that the creation of cluster-like states encoded on Bell-pairs can be achieved using these systems, and we provide measurement networks that allow the execution of quantum algorithms while maintaining intact the resilience of the system. Finally, we investigate the possibility to create a diatomic molecular state and simulate Fermi systems via the excitation to Rydberg levels of ground-state atoms trapped in optical lattices. We develop a method based on symbolical manipulations to compute the interaction parameters between highly-excited electrons, and evaluate them for different electronic configurations. We use these parameters to investigate the existence of diatomic molecular states with equilibrium distances comparable to typical lattice spacings. Considering the possibility to excite atoms trapped in an optical lattice to Rydberg levels such that the electronic cloud of neighbouring atoms overlap, we propose a model describing their interactions and compute its parameters. If such systems were realised, they would allow the simulation of Fermi systems at a temperature much below the Fermi temperature, thus enabling the observation of quantum phenomena hitherto inaccessible with current technology.
We review some recent developments in the theory of rotating atomic gases. These studies have thrown light on the process of nucleation of vortices in regimes where mean-field methods are inadequate. In our review we shall describe and compare quantum vortex nucleation of a dilute ultracold bosonic gas trapped in three dif-ferent configurations: a one-dimensional ring lattice, a one-dimensional ring super-lattice and a two-dimensional asymmetric harmonic trap. In all of them there is a critical rotation frequency, at which the particles in the ground state exhibit strong quantum correlations. However, the entanglement properties vary significantly from case to case. We explain these differences by characterizing the intermediate states that participate in the vortex nucleation process. Finally, we show that noise corre-lations are sensitive to these differences. These new studies have, therefore, shown how novel quantum states may be produced and probed in future experiments with rotating neutral atom systems.