Equation of State and Thermometry of the 2D SU(N) Fermi-Hubbard Model

We characterize the equation of state (EoS) of the SU(N>2) Fermi-Hubbard Model (FHM) in a two-dimensional single-layer square optical lattice. We probe the density and the site occupation probabilities as functions of interaction strength and temperature for N=3, 4, and 6. Our measurements are used as a benchmark for state-of-the-art numerical methods including determinantal quantum Monte Carlo and numerical linked cluster expansion. By probing the density fluctuations, we compare temperatures determined in a model-independent way by fitting measurements to numerically calculated EoS results, making this a particularly interesting new step in the exploration and characterization of the SU(N) FHM.

Realizing topological edge states with Rydberg-atom synthetic dimensions

A discrete degree of freedom can be engineered to match the Hamiltonian of particles moving in a real-space lattice potential. Such synthetic dimensions are powerful tools for quantum simulation because of the control they offer and the ability to create configurations difficult to access in real space. Here, in an ultracold ⁸⁴Sr atom, we demonstrate a synthetic-dimension based on Rydberg levels coupled with millimeter waves. Tunneling amplitudes between synthetic lattice sites and on-site potentials are set by the millimeter-wave amplitudes and detunings respectively. Alternating weak and strong tunneling in a one-dimensional configuration realizes the single-particle Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) Hamiltonian, a paradigmatic model of topological matter. Band structure is probed through optical excitation from the ground state to Rydberg levels, revealing symmetry-protected topological edge states at zero energy. Edge-state energies are robust to perturbations of tunneling-rates that preserve chiral symmetry, but can be shifted by the introduction of on-site potentials.

Synthetic dimensions, states of a system engineered to act as if they were a reconfigurable extra spatial dimension, have been demonstrated with different systems previously. Here the authors create a synthetic dimension using Rydberg atoms and configure it to support topological edge states.

Suppressing the loss of ultracold molecules via the continuous quantum Zeno effect

We investigate theoretically the suppression of two-body losses when the on-site loss rate is larger than all other energy scales in a lattice. This work quantitatively explains the recently observed suppression of chemical reactions between two rotational states of fermionic KRb molecules confined in one-dimensional tubes with a weak lattice along the tubes [Yan et al., Nature (London) 501, 521 (2013)]. New loss rate measurements performed for different lattice parameters but under controlled initial conditions allow us to show that the loss suppression is a consequence of the combined effects of lattice confinement and the continuous quantum Zeno effect. A key finding, relevant for generic strongly reactive systems, is that while a single-band theory can qualitatively describe the data, a quantitative analysis must include multiband effects. Accounting for these effects reduces the inferred molecule filling fraction by a factor of 5. A rate equation can describe much of the data, but to properly reproduce the loss dynamics with a fixed fillingfraction for all lattice parameters we develop a mean-field model and benchmark it with numerically exacttime-dependent density matrix renormalization group calculations.

Novel dielectric anomaly in the hole-doped La(2)Cu(1-x)Li(x)O(4) and La(2-x)Sr(x)NiO(4) insulators: signature of an electronic glassy state

The low-frequency dielectric response of hole-doped insulators La(2)Cu(1-x)Li(x)O(4) and La(2-x)Sr(x)NiO(4) shows a large dielectric constant epsilon(') at high temperature and a steplike drop by a factor of 100 at a material-dependent low temperature T(f). T(f) increases with frequency, and the dielectric response shows universal scaling in a Cole-Cole plot, suggesting that a charge-glass state is realized both in the cuprates and in the nickelates.