arXiv subjects

Martin W. Zwierlein

Publications and source records attributed to Martin W. Zwierlein.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Observation of a Halo Trimer in an Ultracold Bose-Fermi Mixture

The quantum mechanics of three interacting particles gives rise to interesting universal phenomena, such as the staircase of Efimov trimers predicted in the context of nuclear physics and observed in ultracold gases. Here, we observe a novel type of halo trimer using radiofrequency spectroscopy in an ultracold mixture of $^{23}$Na and $^{40}$K atoms. The trimers consist of two light bosons and one heavy fermion, and have the structure of a Feshbach dimer weakly bound to one additional boson. We find that the trimer peak closely follows the dimer resonance over the entire range of explored interaction strengths across an order of magnitude variation of the dimer energy, as reproduced by our theoretical analysis. The presence of this halo trimer is of direct relevance for many-body physics in ultracold mixtures and the association of ultracold molecules.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Geometric squeezing into the lowest Landau level

The equivalence between neutral particles under rotation and charged particles in a magnetic field relates phenomena as diverse as spinning atomic nuclei, weather patterns, and the quantum Hall effect. In their quantum descriptions, translations along different directions do not commute, implying a Heisenberg uncertainty relation between spatial coordinates. Here, we exploit the ability to squeeze non-commuting variables to dynamically create a Bose-Einstein condensate occupying a single Landau gauge wavefunction in the lowest Landau level. We directly resolve the extent of the zero-point cyclotron orbits, and demonstrate geometric squeezing of the orbits' guiding centers by more than ${7}~$dB below the standard quantum limit. The condensate attains an angular momentum of more than ${1000}\,{\hbar}$ per particle, and an interatomic distance comparable to the size of the cyclotron orbits. This offers a new route towards strongly correlated fluids and bosonic quantum Hall states.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Universal Sound Diffusion in a Strongly Interacting Fermi Gas

Transport of strongly interacting fermions governs modern materials -- from the high-$T_c$ cuprates to bilayer graphene --, but also nuclear fission, the merging of neutron stars and the expansion of the early universe. Here we observe a universal quantum limit of diffusivity in a homogeneous, strongly interacting Fermi gas of atoms by studying sound propagation and its attenuation via the coupled transport of momentum and heat. In the normal state, the sound diffusivity ${D}$ monotonically decreases upon lowering the temperature $T$, in contrast to the diverging behavior of weakly interacting Fermi liquids. As the superfluid transition temperature is crossed, ${D}$ attains a universal value set by the ratio of Planck's constant ${h}$ and the particle mass ${m}$. This finding of quantum limited sound diffusivity informs theories of fermion transport, with relevance for hydrodynamic flow of electrons, neutrons and quarks.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Bose polarons near quantum criticality

The emergence of quasiparticles in strongly interacting matter represents one of the cornerstones of modern physics. However, when different phases of matter compete near a quantum critical point, the very existence of quasiparticles comes under question. Here we create Bose polarons near quantum criticality by immersing atomic impurities in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with near-resonant interactions. Using locally-resolved radiofrequency spectroscopy, we probe the energy, spectral width, and short-range correlations of the impurities as a function of temperature. Far below the superfluid critical temperature, the impurities form well-defined quasiparticles. However, their inverse lifetime, given by their spectral width, is observed to increase linearly with temperature at the Planckian scale $\frac{k_B T}{\hbar}$, a hallmark of quantum critical behavior. Close to the BEC critical temperature, the spectral width exceeds the binding energy of the impurities, signaling a breakdown of the quasiparticle picture.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Photo-induced two-body loss of ultracold molecules

The lifetime of nonreactive ultracold bialkali gases was conjectured to be limited by sticky collisions amplifying three-body loss. We show that the sticking times were previously overestimated and do not support this hypothesis. We find that electronic excitation of NaK+NaK collision complexes by the trapping laser leads to the experimentally observed two-body loss. We calculate the excitation rate with a quasiclassical, statistical model employing ab initio potentials and transition dipole moments. Using longer laser wavelengths or repulsive box potentials may suppress the losses.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2019

Spectral response and contact of the unitary Fermi gas

We measure radiofrequency (rf) spectra of the homogeneous unitary Fermi gas at temperatures ranging from the Boltzmann regime through quantum degeneracy and across the superfluid transition. For all temperatures, a single spectral peak is observed. Its position smoothly evolves from the bare atomic resonance in the Boltzmann regime to a frequency corresponding to nearly one Fermi energy at the lowest temperatures. At high temperatures, the peak width reflects the scattering rate of the atoms, while at low temperatures, the width is set by the size of fermion pairs. Above the superfluid transition, and approaching the quantum critical regime, the width increases linearly with temperature, indicating non-Fermi-liquid behavior. From the wings of the rf spectra, we obtain the contact, quantifying the strength of short-range pair correlations. We find that the contact rapidly increases as the gas is cooled below the superfluid transition.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Spin Transport in a Mott Insulator of Ultracold Fermions

Strongly correlated materials are expected to feature unconventional transport properties, such that charge, spin, and heat conduction are potentially independent probes of the dynamics. In contrast to charge transport, the measurement of spin transport in such materials is highly challenging. We observed spin conduction and diffusion in a system of ultracold fermionic atoms that realizes the half-filled Fermi-Hubbard model. For strong interactions, spin diffusion is driven by super-exchange and doublon-hole-assisted tunneling, and strongly violates the quantum limit of charge diffusion. The technique developed in this work can be extended to finite doping, which can shed light on the complex interplay between spin and charge in the Hubbard model.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Boiling a Unitary Fermi Liquid

We study the thermal evolution of a highly spin-imbalanced, homogeneous Fermi gas with unitarity limited interactions, from a Fermi liquid of polarons at low temperatures to a classical Boltzmann gas at high temperatures. Radio-frequency spectroscopy gives access to the energy, lifetime, and short-range correlations of Fermi polarons at low temperatures $T$. In this regime, we observe a characteristic $T^2$ dependence of the spectral width, corresponding to the quasiparticle decay rate expected for a Fermi liquid. At high $T$, the spectral width decreases again towards the scattering rate of the classical, unitary Boltzmann gas, $\propto T^{-1/2}$. In the transition region between the quantum degenerate and classical regime, the spectral width attains its maximum, on the scale of the Fermi energy, indicating the breakdown of a quasiparticle description. Density measurements in a harmonic trap directly reveal the majority dressing cloud surrounding the minority spins and yield the compressibility along with the effective mass of Fermi polarons.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2018

Photoassociation of Ultracold NaLi

We perform photoassociation spectroscopy in an ultracold $^{23}$Na-$^6$Li mixture to study the $c^3Σ^+$ excited triplet molecular potential. We observe 50 vibrational states and their substructure to an accuracy of 20 MHz, and provide line strength data from photoassociation loss measurements. An analysis of the vibrational line positions using near-dissociation expansions and a full potential fit is presented. This is the first observation of the $c^3Σ^+$ potential, as well as photoassociation in the NaLi system.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2018

Two-Photon Spectroscopy of the NaLi Triplet Ground State

We employ two-photon spectroscopy to study the vibrational states of the triplet ground state potential ($a^3Σ^+$) of the $^{23}$Na$^{6}$Li molecule. Pairs of Na and Li atoms in an ultracold mixture are photoassociated into an excited triplet molecular state, which in turn is coupled to vibrational states of the triplet ground potential. Vibrational state binding energies, line strengths, and potential fitting parameters for the triplet ground $a^3Σ^+$ potential are reported. We also observe rotational splitting in the lowest vibrational state.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2018

Long-Lived Ultracold Molecules with Electric and Magnetic Dipole Moments

We create fermionic dipolar $^{23}$Na$^6$Li molecules in their triplet ground state from an ultracold mixture of $^{23}$Na and $^6$Li. Using magneto-association across a narrow Feshbach resonance followed by a two-photon STIRAP transfer to the triplet ground state, we produce $3\,{\times}\,10^4$ ground state molecules in a spin-polarized state. We observe a lifetime of $4.6\,\text{s}$ in an isolated molecular sample, approaching the $p$-wave universal rate limit. Electron spin resonance spectroscopy of the triplet state was used to determine the hyperfine structure of this previously unobserved molecular state.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Homogeneous Atomic Fermi Gases

We report on the creation of homogeneous Fermi gases of ultracold atoms in a uniform potential. In the momentum distribution of a spin-polarized gas, we observe the emergence of the Fermi surface and the saturated occupation of one particle per momentum state. This directly confirms Pauli blocking in momentum space. For the spin-balanced unitary Fermi gas, we observe spatially uniform pair condensates. For thermodynamic measurements, we introduce a hybrid potential that is harmonic in one dimension and uniform in the other two. The spatially resolved compressibility reveals the superfluid transition in a spin-balanced Fermi gas, saturation in a fully polarized Fermi gas, and strong attraction in the polaronic regime of a partially polarized Fermi gas.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Two and Three-body Contacts in the Unitary Bose Gas

In many-body systems governed by pairwise contact interactions, a wide range of observables is linked by a single parameter, the two-body contact, which quantifies two-particle correlations. This profound insight has transformed our understanding of strongly interacting Fermi gases. Here, using Ramsey interferometry, we study coherent evolution of the resonantly interacting Bose gas, and show that it cannot be explained by only pairwise correlations. Our experiments reveal the crucial role of three-body correlations arising from Efimov physics, and provide a direct measurement of the associated three-body contact.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Observation of 2D fermionic Mott insulators of $^{40}$K with single-site resolution

We report on the site-resolved observation of characteristic states of the two-dimensional repulsive Fermi-Hubbard model, using ultracold $^{40}$K atoms in an optical lattice. By varying the tunneling, interaction strength, and external confinement, we realize metallic, Mott-insulating, and band-insulating states. We directly measure the local moment, which quantifies the degree of on-site magnetization, as a function of temperature and chemical potential. Entropies per particle as low as $0.99(6)\,k_B$ indicate that nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic correlations should be detectable using spin-sensitive imaging.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Second-Scale Nuclear Spin Coherence Time of Trapped Ultracold $^{23}$Na$^{40}$K Molecules

Coherence, the stability of the relative phase between quantum states, lies at the heart of quantum mechanics. Applications such as precision measurement, interferometry, and quantum computation are enabled by physical systems that have quantum states with robust coherence. With the creation of molecular ensembles at sub-$μ$K temperatures, diatomic molecules have become a novel system under full quantum control. Here, we report on the observation of stable coherence between a pair of nuclear spin states of ultracold fermionic NaK molecules in the singlet rovibrational ground state. Employing microwave fields, we perform Ramsey spectroscopy and observe coherence times on the scale of one second. This work opens the door for the exploration of single molecules as a versatile quantum memory. Switchable long-range interactions between dipolar molecules can further enable two-qubit gates, allowing quantum storage and processing in the same physical system. Within the observed coherence time, $10^4$ one- and two-qubit gate operations will be feasible.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Observation of Spatial Charge and Spin Correlations in the 2D Fermi-Hubbard Model

Strong electron correlations lie at the origin of transformative phenomena such as colossal magneto-resistance and high-temperature superconductivity. Already near room temperature, doped copper oxide materials display remarkable features such as a pseudo-gap and a "strange metal" phase with unusual transport properties. The essence of this physics is believed to be captured by the Fermi-Hubbard model of repulsively interacting, itinerant fermions on a lattice. Here we report on the site-resolved observation of charge and spin correlations in the two-dimensional (2D) Fermi-Hubbard model realized with ultracold atoms. Antiferromagnetic spin correlations are maximal at half-filling and weaken monotonically upon doping. Correlations between singly charged sites are negative at large doping, revealing the Pauli and correlation hole\textemdash a suppressed probability of finding two fermions near each other. However, as the doping is reduced below a critical value, correlations between such local magnetic moments become positive, signaling strong bunching of doublons and holes. Excellent agreement with numerical linked-cluster expansion (NLCE) and determinantal quantum Monte Carlo (DQMC) calculations is found. Positive non-local moment correlations directly imply potential energy fluctuations due to doublon-hole pairs, which should play an important role for transport in the Fermi-Hubbard model.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Coherent Microwave Control of Ultracold $^{23}$Na$^{40}$K Molecules

We demonstrate coherent microwave control of rotational and hyperfine states of trapped, ultracold, and chemically stable $^{23}$Na$^{40}$K molecules. Starting with all molecules in the absolute rovibrational and hyperfine ground state, we study rotational transitions in combined magnetic and electric fields and explain the rich hyperfine structure. Following the transfer of the entire molecular ensemble into a single hyperfine level of the first rotationally excited state, $J{=}1$, we observe collisional lifetimes of more than $3\, \rm s$, comparable to those in the rovibrational ground state, $J{=}0$. Long-lived ensembles and full quantum state control are prerequisites for the use of ultracold molecules in quantum simulation, precision measurements and quantum information processing.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

From Planar Solitons to Vortex Rings and Lines: Cascade of Solitonic Excitations in a Superfluid Fermi Gas

We follow the time evolution of a superfluid Fermi gas of resonantly interacting $^6$Li atoms after a phase imprint. Via tomographic imaging, we observe the formation of a planar dark soliton, its subsequent snaking, and its decay into a vortex ring, which in turn breaks to finally leave behind a single solitonic vortex. In intermediate stages we find evidence for an exotic structure resembling the $Φ$-soliton, a combination of a vortex ring and a vortex line. Direct imaging of the nodal surface reveals its undulation dynamics and its decay via the puncture of the initial soliton plane. The observed evolution of the nodal surface represents dynamics beyond superfluid hydrodynamics, calling for a microscopic description of unitary fermionic superfluids out of equilibrium.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗