With the advent of spatially resolved fluorescence imaging in quantum gas microscopes (see e.g. [1]), it is now possible to directly image glassy phases and probe the local effects of disorder in a highly controllable setup. Here we present numerical calculations using a spatially resolved local mean-field theory, show that it captures the essential physics of the disordered system, and use it to simulate the density distributions seen in single-shot fluorescence microscopy [2]. From these simulated images we extract local properties of the phases which are measurable by a quantum gas microscope and show that unambiguous detection of the Bose glass is possible. In particular, we show that experimental determination of the Edwards-Anderson order parameter is possible in a strongly correlated quantum system using existing experiments. We also suggest modifications to the experiments by using spatial light modulators (see [3] and references therein) to tailor the lattice, which will allow further properties of the Bose glass to be measured. References: [1] E Haller, et al., "Single-atom imaging of fermions in a quantum-gas microscope" Nature Physics 11, 738 (2015) [2] S J Thomson, et al., "Measuring the Edwards-Anderson order parameter of the Bose glass: A quantum gas microscope approach" Phys. Rev. A 94, 051601(R) (2016) [3] F Buccheri, et al., "Holographic optical traps for atom-based topological Kondo devices" New J. Phys. 18, 075012 (2016)
With the advent of spatially resolved fluorescence imaging in quantum gas microscopes (see e.g. [1]), it is now possible to directly image glassy phases and probe the local effects of disorder in a highly controllable setup. Here we present numerical calculations using a spatially resolved local mean-field theory, show that it captures the essential physics of the disordered system, and use it to simulate the density distributions seen in single-shot fluorescence microscopy [2]. From these simulated images we extract local properties of the phases which are measurable by a quantum gas microscope and show that unambiguous detection of the Bose glass is possible. In particular, we show that experimental determination of the Edwards-Anderson order parameter is possible in a strongly correlated quantum system using existing experiments. We also suggest modifications to the experiments by using spatial light modulators (see [3] and references therein) to tailor the lattice, which will allow further properties of the Bose glass to be measured. References: [1] E Haller, et al., "Single-atom imaging of fermions in a quantum-gas microscope" Nature Physics 11, 738 (2015) [2] S J Thomson, et al., "Measuring the Edwards-Anderson order parameter of the Bose glass: A quantum gas microscope approach" Phys. Rev. A 94, 051601(R) (2016) [3] F Buccheri, et al., "Holographic optical traps for atom-based topological Kondo devices" New J. Phys. 18, 075012 (2016)
With the advent of spatially resolved fluorescence imaging in quantum gas microscopes, it is now possible to directly image glassy phases and probe the local effects of disorder in a highly controllable setup. Here we present numerical calculations using a spatially resolved local mean-field theory, show that it captures the essential physics of the disordered system, and use it to simulate the density distributions seen in single-shot fluorescence microscopy. From these simulated images we extract local properties of the phases which are measurable by a quantum gas microscope and show that unambiguous detection of the Bose glass is possible. In particular, we show that experimental determination of the Edwards-Anderson order parameter is possible in a strongly correlated quantum system using existing experiments. We also suggest modifications to the experiments which will allow further properties of the Bose glass to be measured.
Disordered potentials fundamentally affect transport and coherence in quantum systems, giving rise to a Bose-glass phase in interacting bosonic systems—an insulating yet compressible phase lacking long-range coherence. Directly measuring a reduced coherence length of the Bose glass has been a outstanding challenge. We address this by employing Talbot interferometry combined with single-atom-resolved detection in a quantum-gas microscope. Using ultracold bosonic atoms in a two-dimensional lattice with site-resolved, reproducible disorder, we identify the Bose-glass phase through density distributions and particle-number fluctuations, quantified via the Edwards-Anderson parameter, and through the visibility of interference patterns after time of flight. By driving the system across the Bose-glass phase, we further observe signatures of nonergodic dynamics. Our studies provide a starting point to further explore disordered systems in and out of equilibrium, and are relevant for understanding the dynamics and stability of disordered and glasslike quantum states in solid-state systems.
Imagine a new generation of computers that dramatically surpasses the most powerful supercomputers, being able to tackle the most challenging of computational problems. These problems arise, for example, in quantum physics where the computational power required to model a many-particle system increases exponentially with the number of its constituents, and as a consequence the calculations become prohibitively time-consuming. Nobel laureate Richard Feynman proposed this new type of computer in the early 1980s: ‘Let the computer itself be built of quantum mechanical elements which obey quantum mechanical laws.’ Such a quantum simulator would allow researchers to tackle challenging problems in condensed-matter physics. In particular many-body fermionic quantum systems are very difficult to compute due to the antisymmetric nature of the wave function, and the resulting sign problem for quantum Monte Carlo methods. This is why a quantum simulator will be an excellent test bed to investigate phenomena and properties of strongly correlated fermionic quantum systems. A powerful experimental platform to realize a quantum simulator is laser-cooled atoms [1] held in an artificial crystal of light, generated by superimposing laser beams. The atoms are kept in this optical lattice similar to marbles in the hollows of an egg carton, and they can mimic the behaviour of electrons in a real crystal. These systems interface atomic physics with condensed matter physics in a new way, as the tools of atomic physics allow for exquisite control of many experimental parameters, which are often inaccessible in solid state experiments. In-situ imaging techniques [2] using ‘quantum-gas microscopes’ constitute a new approach to the study of many-body quantum systems in an optical lattice with unprecedented resolution at the single-particle and single-site level [3,4]. This new method is complementary to earlier optical lattice experiments measuring distributions in momentum space after a time-of-flight expansion. A quantum-gas microscope uses an optical imaging system (Fig. 1a) for collecting the fluorescence light of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice with high spatial resolution comparable to the lattice spacing of ≈ 500 nm. (a) Atoms in optical lattice atoms are imaged with a high-resolution microscope objective [4]. (b) Single-site addressing is achieved by focussing a laser beam through the microscope onto selected atoms, bringing them into resonance with microwave radiation which produces spin flips [12]. (c) and (d) Single-atom-resolved fluorescence images of bosonic Mottinsulators [4,9]. (e) Deterministically prepared atom distribution using single-site addressing [12]. (f) Direct observation of single-atom quantum walks [15]. Fluorescence imaging of atoms in a quantum-gas microscope has made it possible to directly observe bosonic Mott insulators with single-atom resolution [4–6], giving access to in-situ measurements of temperature and entropy distributions. Subsequently, ground-breaking experiments in many-body quantum dynamics have been performed, such as the first direct observation of correlation spreading after quenches of the system to lower lattice depths [7]. Other experiments include the quantum simulation of an antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 chain [8], the realization of algorithmic cooling [9], the direct measurement of correlations across the superfluid-to-Mott-insulator transition [10], or the observation of the ‘Higgs’ amplitude mode [11]. The high-resolution imaging system is also capable of optically addressing individual atoms with sub-diffraction-limited resolution. For this purpose, a laser beam is focussed though the microscope objective onto selected lattice sites, bringing the atoms into resonance with microwave radiation which produces spin flips [12,13]. The preparation of arbitrary atom distributions in the lattice not only opens perspectives for neutral-atom quantum information processing, but also allows the deterministic creation of specific out-of-equilibrium situations, and their ensuing system dynamics can be studied with single-atom resolution. Examples include the creation of spin impurities and the study of their dynamics in a many-body system [14], the observation of quantum walks [15] and magnon-bound states [16], and the measurement of entanglement entropy [17]. The technique used for single-site-resolved detection of individual atoms in the optical lattice is fluorescence imaging. It requires laser cooling of the atoms to sub-Doppler temperatures while detecting the fluorescence photons emitted during this process. A challenge is to achieve a low particle loss rate and to prevent the atoms from hopping between lattice sites. In the case of the first quantum-gas microscopes, this has been implemented with bosonic rubidium-87 atoms, and also recently for ytterbium-174. However, it has proven more challenging for fermionic alkaline species such as potassium-40 and lithium-6, as their low mass and small excited state hyperfine splitting-prevented standard sub-Doppler cooling from working. As a result, it took several years to extend the quantum-gas microscope technique to fermionic species, and in 2015 several groups have demonstrated single-atom-resolved imaging of fermions [18]. In these setups, the direct observation of band insulators [19], fermionic Mott insulators [20,21] and even antiferromagnetic correlations [22] has been reported most recently. These developments provide fascinating opportunities to study many-body fermionic quantum systems with single-particle access. The fermionic nature of the electron is vital to understanding a range of phenomena within solid-state physics, such as electron pairing in superconductivity, and quantum magnetism. In this context, the quantum simulator will allow, e.g. for direct measurement of ordered quantum phases and out-of-equilibrium dynamics, with access to quantities such as spin--spin correlation functions and the growth of many-body entanglement. The high-resolution imaging systems could also be used to project tailored time-varying light fields onto the atoms, allowing the removal of high-entropy regions by locally modifying the confining potential to attain very low-entropy states. Attaining these low-entropy many-particle states is one of the key challenges in our field. In summary, quantum-gas microscopes offer unprecedented access to many-body quantum systems, and they will allow us to gain an even deeper insight into the intriguing world of quantum physics that governs the properties of strongly correlated materials. Using a well-controlled quantum system to simulate other quantum systems could help resolve some of the most challenging problems scientists face in condensed matter physics and materials science, but it will also provide new insights in quantum chemistry, high-energy physics and biology. SK acknowledges funding from the EU (ERC FERMILATT, SIQS, QuProCs) and SUPA.
This thesis describes the methods used to achieve single-atom and single-site resolved fluorescence imaging of a quantum gas of fermionic atoms held in an optical lattice. This kind of quantum gas microscopy has been previously applied to bosonic atoms in two experiments, and has allowed for extensive studies of many-body quantum systems. Here we detail methods to extend the techniques of quantum gas microscopy to fermionic species of atoms, opening the door to quantum simulation of electronic models of condensed matter physics. We prepare quantum degenerate gases of fermionic 40K through sympathetic cooling with a gas of \Rb. The gas prepared is trapped less than 1 mm away from a thin vacuum window, an experimental geometry which permits interrogation with a large Numerical Aperture microscope objective. The cloud is loaded into a 527 nm-period cubic optical lattice, ideal for quantum simulation of many-body models of fermionic particles such as the Hubbard model. The optical lattice is designed to allow for potential depths up to V/kB = 250 microKelvin, sufficient to strongly confine 40K atoms into individual lattice sites. EIT cooling --- a technique previously demonstrated in ion-trapping experiments --- is used to cool the fermionic atoms deeply towards the ground motional state of the lattice wells. We collect the photons scattered during continuous application of EIT cooling, while atoms are kept pinned in the lattice for many seconds. We strongly suppress all other sources of light with the use of a modulated cooling scheme and a spinning chopper wheel. Collecting the scattered light produced during 2 s of EIT cooling allows us to resolve single atoms in a fluorescence image. We demonstrate that the high resolution of our imaging apparatus also permits atom positions to be precisely identified on the length scale of the optical lattice. Thus we demonstrate the realisation of a quantum gas microscope for fermionic atoms, allowing for precise investigation of the ground states and dynamics of correlated quantum states of fermionic particles.
This thesis contains four studies of the effects of disorder and randomness on strongly correlated quantum phases of matter. Starting with an itinerant ferromagnet, I first use an order-by-disorder approach to show that adding quenched charged disorder to the model generates new quantum fluctuations in the vicinity of the quantum critical point which lead to the formation of a novel magnetic phase known as a helical glass. Switching to bosons, I then employ a momentum-shell renormalisation group analysis of disordered lattice gases of bosons where I show that disorder breaks ergodicity in a non-trivial way, leading to unexpected glassy freezing effects. This work was carried out in the context of ultracold atomic gases, however the same physics can be realised in dimerised quantum antiferromagnets. By mapping the antiferromagnetic model onto a hard-core lattice gas of bosons, I go on to show the importance of the non-ergodic effects to the thermodynamics of the model and find evidence for an unusual glassy phase known as a Mott glass not previously thought to exist in this model. Finally, I use a mean-field numerical approach to simulate current generation quantum gas microscopes and demonstrate the feasibility of a novel measurement scheme designed to measure the Edwards-Anderson order parameter, a quantity which describes the degree of ergodicity breaking and which has never before been experimentally measured in any strongly correlated quantum system. Together, these works show that the addition of disorder into strongly interacting quantum systems can lead to qualitatively new behaviour, triggering the formation of new phases and new physics, rather than simply leading to small quantitative changes to the physics of the clean system. They provide new insights into the underlying physics of the models and make direct connection with experimental systems which can be used to test the results presented here.
The question of how the low-energy properties of disordered quantum systems may be connected to exotic localization phenomena at high energy is a key open question in the context of quantum glasses and many-body localization. In the preceding Letter [L. Villa, S. J. Thomson, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, preceding Letter, Phys. Rev. A 104, L021301 (2021)] we have shown that key features of the excitation spectrum of a disordered system can be efficiently probed from out-of-equilibrium dynamics following a quantum quench, providing distinctive signatures of the various phases. Here we extend this work by providing a more-in-depth study of the behavior of the quench spectral functions associated with different observables and investigating an extended parameter regime. We provide a detailed introduction to quench spectroscopy for disordered systems and show how spectral properties can be probed using both local operators and two-point correlation functions. We benchmark the technique using the one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model in the presence of a random external potential, focusing on the low-lying excitations, and demonstrate that quench spectroscopy can distinguish the Mott insulator, superfluid, and Bose glass phases. We then explicitly reconstruct the zero-temperature phase diagram of the disordered Bose-Hubbard at fixed filling using two independent methods, experimentally accessible via both time-of-flight imaging and quantum gas microscopy, respectively, and demonstrate that quench spectroscopy can give valuable insights into the distribution of rare regions within disordered systems.