Quantum-gas microscopy of large-scale bosonic quantum gases

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Immanuel Bloch; Johannes Zeiher
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 499180199

In this project, we will explore the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of large-scale bosonic quantum gases using a combination of microscopic control and detection. We will address three broad areas, namely many-body localized systems in one and two spatial dimensions, spin transport in large-scale Heisenberg models and constrained dynamics in lattice gases coupled to long-range interacting Rydberg states. For many-body localized systems, we will explore novel probes tailored to the strengths of our quantum gas microscope. We will study the stability of MBL in two dimensions to the presence of thermal inclusions and the nature of one-dimensional MBL via finite-size scaling. Complementary to localized systems, we will study the relaxation of initial out-of-equilibrium states in the clean two-component Bose-Hubbard model. Our experiments aim to explore the stability of recently observed superdiffusive spin transport to integrability-breaking perturbations, as well as shed light on the role of the initial state on the spin relaxation. Using highly excited Rydberg states, we aim to realize a transverse field Ising model. We will use our microscopic control to prepare specific initial states, which are particularly long lived due to dynamical constraints preventing their decay. Touching on the three central objectives of the research unit, we plan to closely collaborate with all theoretical projects.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 5522: Quantum thermalization, localization, and constrained dynamics with interacting ultracold atoms
• International Connection: USA
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Sarang Gopalakrishnan