CriLiN · An Atomic Quantum Simulator with long-range, multi-body interactions
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-09-01 → 2022-08-31
- EU contribution
- €183,473
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
An Atomic Quantum Simulator with long-range, multi-body interactions
Ultracold atoms have emerged as ideal building blocks for quantum simulations of paradigmatic condensed matter phenomena. In particular, there is a growing interest in simulators built with unequal-mass fermions and long-range interactions, as they are expected to greatly enhance the observability of elusive regimes of quantum matter, primarily in the context of unconventional superfluidity and quantum magnetism. Any experimental insight on this subject would impact material sciences and potentially lead to breakthrough technological advances affecting society as a whole, e.g. novel superconductors. With CriLiN, I aimed at realizing a novel quantum simulator based on fermionic 6Li and 53Cr atoms. This peculiar combination of laser-cooled atomic species features a mass ratio M/m=8.8. Theory predictions show that the underlying few-body physics of such a Fermi mixture displays exceptional properties, which are expected to foster the observability of elusive superfluid regimes as well as itinerant ferromagnetism on a many-body level. Before the start of CriLiN, only three Fermi mixture experiments existed worldwide, none of which possessed a suitable mass ratio for the task at hand. This project was highly ambitious and consisted in three non-trivial steps: the realization of a novel quantum degenerate Li-Cr mixture, the investigation of Li-Cr collisional properties in the ultracold regime, and the study of the mixture stability and few-body physics in the vicinity of a magnetic Fano-Feshbach resonance. On top of the lack of information about the inter-species collisional properties, typical to new double-species experiments, trapping and cooling of fermionic Cr represented a challenge of its own. Only moderate quantum degeneracy with a small Fermi gas of Cr had been previously shown in the literature. We developed an experimental apparatus able to successfully overcome those challenges and we provided theoretical understanding of our atomic system which will be of reference to others. Our work resulted in the only existing machine able to produce strongly-interacting Li-Cr Fermi mixtures and showed the full potential of this system for future many-body physics studies.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Ultracold atomic gases have emerged as ideal quantum simulators, as they enable experimentalists to study the interplay between the properties of a quantum many-body system and the interactions between its constituents with unmatched accuracy. However, in spite of impressive progresses, an atomic quantum simulator of highly correlated fermionic matter, able to address both phenomena of exotic superfluidity and itinerant ferromagnetism, still awaits experimental demonstration. Such a system needs to be built from the ground-up by carefully harnessing the underlying few-body physics.In CriLiN I will develop and test a new kind of Atomic Quantum Simulator of unequal-mass spin-1/2 fermions with long-range, multi-body resonant interactions. In order to do so, I will exploit the still unexplored 6Li-53Cr Fermi-Fermi mixture which, thanks to its special mass ratio of M/m=8.8, exhibits unique few-body properties that strongly favour the many-body phases of our interest. Indeed, on the “molecular side” of an interspecies s-wave Feshbach resonance, the Cr-Li system supports a real (virtual) stable universal trimer (tetramer) state, while benefiting from quantum-interference induced suppression of three-body recombination processes. At the few-body level, this will allow for the first time to resonantly tune multi-body, long-range p-wave interactions. At the many-body level, this will allow both to investigate Stoner's model of itinerant ferromagnetism and to greatly enhance the possibility to attain elusive superfluid regimes or topologically non-trivial p-wave superfluids.In CriLiN I will: (i) realize a degenerate 6Li-53Cr Fermi-Fermi mixture and identify intra- and inter-species Feshbach resonances suitable for oursimulator; (ii) unveil and characterize stable cluster states and exploit themto resonantly tune three- and four-body elastic interactions; (iii) demonstrate thesuppression of inelastic pairing processes in repulsively interacting mixtures.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE · RomaCoordinatorItaly
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union