Microscopic probing and manipulation of ultracold fermions

Lawrence W. Cheuk, Matthew A. Nichols, Melih Okan +2 more

Matthew A. Nichols, Lawrence W. Cheuk, Melih Okan +4 more

Christian Sanner, Ralf Gommers, Aviv Keshet +3 more

Selim Jochim

Ruichao Ma

In this thesis, I present experiments on making and probing strongly correlated gases of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice with engineered potentials and dynamics. The quantum gas microscope first developed in our lab enables single-site resolution imaging and manipulation of atoms in a two-dimensional lattice, offering an ideal platform for quantum simulation of condensed matter systems. Here we demonstrate our abilities to generate optical potential with high precision and high resolution, and engineer coherent dynamics using photon assisted tunneling. We also create a system of bilayer quantum gases that brings new imaging capabilities and extends the possible range of our quantum simulation.

Corinna Kollath, Michael Köhl, Thierry Giamarchi

We propose a versatile experimental probe for cold atomic gases analogous to the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) in condensed matter. This probe uses the coherent coupling of a single particle to the system. Depending on the measurement sequence, our probe allows us to obtain either the local density and spatial density correlations, with a resolution on the nanometer scale, or the single particle correlation function in real time. We discuss applications of this scheme to the various possible phases for a two dimensional Hubbard system of fermions in an optical lattice.