Diffusion Dynamics in Disordered Quantum Lattices Gases

利用量子现象作为下一代技术基础的一个关键挑战是理解强粒子间相互作用和无序如何影响材料中的量子行为。强相互作用是一系列显著现象的重要组成部分，如高温超导性。由于材料的缺陷和与环境的接触，无序是不可避免的。然而，相互作用和无序如何竞争或合作，以产生新的和有用的量子态尚不完全清楚。这一关键问题将通过使用捕获在由光形成的晶体中的超冷原子作为模型系统来研究。由随机分布的亮区和暗区组成的激光叠加将应用可控和精确已知的无序。将研究相互作用和无序对粒子流量子动力学的影响。从这项工作中获得的知识可能会导致更好地理解量子材料和提高其性能的新方法。下一代工程师和科学家将接受光学科学、射频电子学、先进计算机控制和信号方面的尖端技术培训。该项目建立在先前的晶格实验的基础上，该实验发现了玻色子和费米子量子猝灭动力学和使用Rb-87原子和K-40原子的局域化。将进行三个技术项目。将与一家新成立的公司合作开发一种现代计算机控制系统，该系统对硬件和软件的淘汰具有强大的功能，将对高分辨率成像系统进行表征和部署，并将实施一种隔离原子平面的方法。与紧聚焦激光束驱动的受激拉曼跃迁一起，这些工具将用于研究超冷晶格气体的扩散动力学。在超流体、莫特绝缘体和玻色玻璃态下，将测量相互作用和无序对Rb-87原子扩散常数的影响。一个用于生成和操作超冷晶格气体以及支持外部设备的源代码存储库将提供给研究社区。这些研究将推动无序量子气体的最新发展，从而为解决与凝聚态物理和材料科学相关的悬而未决的问题提供新的方法，并增强强相关量子科学的知识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

A key challenge to leveraging quantum phenomena as a foundation of next-generation technologies is understanding how the interplay of strong inter-particle interactions and disorder affects quantum behavior in materials. Strong interactions are an important ingredient to a wide range of remarkable phenomena, such as high-temperature superconductivity. Disorder is inescapable in materials because of imperfections and contact with the environment. However, how interactions and disorder compete or cooperate to give rise to new and useful quantum states is not fully understood. This critical problem will be studied by using ultracold atoms trapped in a crystal formed from light as a model system. Controlled and precisely known disorder will be applied by superimposing laser light consisting of randomly distributed bright and dark regions. The influence of interactions and disorder on particle-flow quantum dynamics will be studied. Knowledge gained from this work may lead to a better understanding of quantum materials and new approaches to enhance their performance. The next generation of engineers and scientists will be trained on cutting-edge techniques in optical science, radio-frequency electronics, and advanced computer control and signaling. This project builds on previous lattice experiments that discovered bosonic and fermionic quantum quench dynamics and localization using Rb-87 atoms and K-40 atoms. Three technical projects will be pursued. A modern computer control system robust to hardware and software obsolescence will be developed in partnership with a startup company, a high-resolution imaging system will be characterized and deployed, and a method for isolating a plane of atoms will be implemented. Together with stimulated Raman transitions driven by tightly focused laser beams, these tools will be used to investigate diffusion dynamics in ultracold lattice gases. The impact of interactions and disorder on the diffusion constant for Rb-87 atoms will be measured for superfluid, Mott insulator, and Bose-glass states. An open-source repository of code for generating and manipulating ultracold lattice gases and to support external devices will be made available to the research community. These studies will advance the state-of-the-art in disordered quantum gases, thus enabling new methods for attacking outstanding questions related to condensed matter physics and materials science and enhancing knowledge of strongly correlated quantum science.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.