arXiv subjects

Alicia J. Kollár

Publications and source records attributed to Alicia J. Kollár.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Quantum Simulation of Hyperbolic Space with Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics: From Graphs to Geometry

We show how quantum many-body systems on hyperbolic lattices with nearest-neighbor hopping and local interactions can be mapped onto quantum field theories in continuous negatively curved space. The underlying lattices have recently been realized experimentally with superconducting resonators and therefore allow for a table-top quantum simulation of quantum physics in curved background. Our mapping provides a computational tool to determine observables of the discrete system even for large lattices, where exact diagonalization fails. As an application and proof of principle we quantitatively reproduce the ground state energy, spectral gap, and correlation functions of the noninteracting lattice system by means of analytic formulas on the Poincaré disk, and show how conformal symmetry emerges for large lattices. This sets the stage for studying interactions and disorder on hyperbolic graphs in the future. Importantly, our analysis reveals that even relatively small discrete hyperbolic lattices emulate the continuous geometry of negatively curved space, and thus can be used to experimentally resolve fundamental open problems at the interface of interacting many-body systems, quantum field theory in curved space, and quantum gravity.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Line-Graph Lattices: Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Flat Bands, and Implementations in Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics

Materials science and the study of the electronic properties of solids are a major field of interest in both physics and engineering. The starting point for all such calculations is single-electron, or non-interacting, band structure calculations, and in the limit of strong on-site confinement this can be reduced to graph-like tight-binding models. In this context, both mathematicians and physicists have developed largely independent methods for solving these models. In this paper we will combine and present results from both fields. In particular, we will discuss a class of lattices which can be realized as line graphs of other lattices, both in Euclidean and hyperbolic space. These lattices display highly unusual features including flat bands and localized eigenstates of compact support. We will use the methods of both fields to show how these properties arise and systems for classifying the phenomenology of these lattices, as well as criteria for maximizing the gaps. Furthermore, we will present a particular hardware implementation using superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators that can realize a wide variety of these lattices in both non-interacting and interacting form.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Hyperbolic Lattices in Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics

After close to two decades of research and development, superconducting circuits have emerged as a rich platform for both quantum computation and quantum simulation. Lattices of superconducting coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonators have been shown to produce artificial materials for microwave photons, where weak interactions can be introduced either via non-linear resonator materials or strong interactions via qubit-resonator coupling. Here, we highlight the previously-overlooked property that these lattice sites are deformable and allow the realization of tight-binding lattices which are unattainable, even in conventional solid-state systems. In particular, we show that networks of CPW resonators can create a new class of materials which constitute regular lattices in an effective hyperbolic space with constant negative curvature. We present numerical simulations of a series of hyperbolic analogs of the kagome lattice which show unusual densities of states with a spectrally-isolated degenerate flat band. We also present a proof-of-principle experimental realization of one of these lattices. This paper represents the first step towards on-chip quantum simulation of materials science and interacting particles in curved space.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Tunable-range, photon-mediated atomic interactions in multimode cavity QED

Optical cavity QED provides a platform with which to explore quantum many-body physics in driven-dissipative systems. Single-mode cavities provide strong, infinite-range photon-mediated interactions among intracavity atoms. However, these global all-to-all couplings are limiting from the perspective of exploring quantum many-body physics beyond the mean-field approximation. The present work demonstrates that local couplings can be created using multimode cavity QED. This is established through measurements of the threshold of a superradiant, self-organization phase transition versus atomic position. Specifically, we experimentally show that the interference of near-degenerate cavity modes leads to both a strong and tunable-range interaction between Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) trapped within the cavity. We exploit the symmetry of a confocal cavity to measure the interaction between real BECs and their virtual images without unwanted contributions arising from the merger of real BECs. Atom-atom coupling may be tuned from short range to long range. This capability paves the way toward future explorations of exotic, strongly correlated systems such as quantum liquid crystals and driven-dissipative spin glasses.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Scanning Quantum Cryogenic Atom Microscope

Microscopic imaging of local magnetic fields provides a window into the organizing principles of complex and technologically relevant condensed matter materials. However, a wide variety of intriguing strongly correlated and topologically nontrivial materials exhibit poorly understood phenomena outside the detection capability of state-of-the-art high-sensitivity, high-resolution scanning probe magnetometers. We introduce a quantum-noise-limited scanning probe magnetometer that can operate from room to cryogenic temperatures with unprecedented DC-field sensitivity and micron-scale resolution. The Scanning Quantum Cryogenic Atom Microscope (SQCRAMscope) employs a magnetically levitated atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), thereby providing immunity to conductive and blackbody radiative heating. It has a field sensitivity of 1.4 nT per resolution-limited point ($\sim$2 $μ$m), or 6 nT/$\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ per point at its duty cycle. Compared to point-by-point sensors, the long length of the BEC provides a naturally parallel measurement, allowing one to measure nearly one-hundred points with an effective field sensitivity of 600 pT$/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ for each point during the same time as a point-by-point scanner would measure these points sequentially. Moreover, it has a noise floor of 300 pT and provides nearly two orders of magnitude improvement in magnetic flux sensitivity (down to $10^{-6}$ $Φ_0/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$) over previous atomic probe magnetometers capable of scanning near samples. These capabilities are, for the first time, carefully benchmarked by imaging magnetic fields arising from microfabricated wire patterns, in a system where samples may be scanned, cryogenically cooled, and easily exchanged. The SQCRAMscope will provide charge transport images at temperatures from room to 4 K in unconventional superconductors and topologically nontrivial materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Supermode-Density-Wave-Polariton Condensation

Phase transitions, where observable properties of a many-body system change discontinuously, can occur in both open and closed systems. Ultracold atoms have provided an exemplary model system to demonstrate the physics of closed-system phase transitions, confirming many theoretical models and results. Our understanding of dissipative phase transitions in quantum systems is less developed, and experiments that probe this physics even less so. By placing cold atoms in optical cavities, and inducing strong coupling between light and excitations of the atoms, one can experimentally study phase transitions of open quantum systems. Here we observe and study a novel form of nonequilibrium phase transition, the condensation of supermode-density-wave-polaritons. These polaritons are formed from a hybrid "supermode" of cavity photons coupled to atomic density waves of a quantum gas. Because the cavity supports multiple photon spatial modes, and because the matter-light coupling can be comparable to the energy splitting of these modes, the composition of the supermode polariton is changed by the matter-light coupling upon condensation. These results, found in the few-mode-degenerate cavity regime, demonstrate the potential of fully multimode cavities to exhibit physics beyond mean-field theories. Such systems will provide experimental access to nontrivial phase transitions in driven dissipative quantum systems as well as enabling the studies of novel non-equilibrium spin glasses and neuromorphic computation.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Coupling to Modes of a Near-Confocal Optical Resonator Using a Digital Light Modulator

Digital Micromirror Devices (DMD) provide a robust platform with which to implement digital holography, in principle providing the means to rapidly generate propagating transverse electromagnetic fields with arbitrary mode profiles at visible and IR wavelengths. We use a DMD to probe a Fabry-Pérot cavity in single-mode and near-degenerate confocal configurations. Pumping arbitrary modes of the cavity is possible with excellent specificity by virtue of the spatial overlap between the incident light field and the cavity mode.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2014

An adjustable-length cavity and Bose-Einstein condensate apparatus for multimode cavity QED

We present a novel cavity QED system in which a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is trapped within a high-finesse optical cavity whose length may be adjusted to access both single-mode and multimode configurations. We demonstrate the coupling of an atomic ensemble to the cavity in both configurations. The atoms are confined either within an intracavity far-off-resonance optical dipole trap (FORT) or a crossed optical dipole trap via transversely oriented lasers. Multimode cavity QED provides fully emergent and dynamical optical lattices for intracavity BECs. Such systems will enable explorations of quantum soft matter, including superfluid smectics, superfluid glasses, and spin glasses as well as neuromorphic associative memory.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗