Fermionic lithium quantum gas microscope

• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: Funded in 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 557407693

This proposal is for the acquisition of a major scientific instrument known as a fermionic lithium quantum gas microscope with application to research in quantum many-body physics in a new working group at the University of Hamburg. This device enables the study of interacting quantum many-body systems of fermions in lattices, performing quantum simulation of condensed matter models for high-temperature superconductors. The focus is on quantum simulation of Fermi-Hubbard systems in triangular and square lattices using ultracold fermionic lithium atoms. In particular, we expect contributions to the topics of quantum spin liquids, high-temperature superfluidity and quantum transport of charge and spin. Such interacting fermionic many-body systems are extremely challenging to simulate numerically, and the quantum gas microscope can study systems which cannot be calculated exactly on classical computers. The experimental setup relies on gases of lithium atoms that are cooled and captured in a magneto-optical trap and then further cooled using evaporative cooling into the quantum degenerate regime. The resulting degenerate Fermi gas is then adiabatically transferred into an optical lattice where it is imaged with single-site and single-atom resolution. The resulting images enable a microscopic study of fermionic quantum many-body systems on the single-particle level. This experimental setup is the only in the world which can study strongly interacting fermionic gases in a real-space triangular lattice with single-atom resolution. The instrument is in working condition and will be transferred from the University of Virginia, where it was set up by the working group of Peter Schauss, to the University of Hamburg (Campus Bahrenfeld) after relocation of the working group and the successful purchase. This purchase is a unique opportunity for Germany and the University of Hamburg to obtain an major scientific instrument which is usually not for sale. Research results from this setup have been published in the internationally recognized journals PRX Quantum and PRA. At the University of Hamburg, there is currently no equipment which permits the described research.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Quantengasmikroskop für fermionisches Lithium
• Instrumentation Group: 8550 Spezielle Kryostaten (für tiefste Temperaturen)
• Applicant Institution: Universität Hamburg
• Leader: Dr. Peter Schauss