Quantum Simulation with Ultracold Metastable Helium in an Optical Lattice

对电子在晶格中的行为的理解导致了许多设备的发展，现在在日常生活中被认为是理所当然的。但是关于晶格中强相互作用的电子仍然有许多悬而未决的问题，例如，对高温超导性的解释。这是因为由于粒子之间的量子相关性，对这些系统进行建模是困难的，而固态材料中的杂质阻碍了实验研究。该项目旨在开发一个量子模拟器，使用光学晶格中的超冷氦原子来模拟这种系统。相关函数将通过探测单个原子来测量，为表征多体晶格态提供一种新的观察方法。

Understanding the behaviour of electrons in a lattice has led to the development of numerous devices now taken for granted in everyday life. But there are still many open questions concerning strongly interacting electrons in a lattice, for example, an explanation of high temperature superconductivity. This is because modelling these systems is hard, due to the quantum correlations between particles, while impurities in solid state materials hinder experimental studies. This project aims to develop a quantum simulator using ultracold helium atoms in an optical lattice to model such systems. Correlation functions will be measured by detecting individual atoms, providing a new observable to characterise many-body lattice states.