Exploration of doped quantum magnets with ultracold atoms

Abstract

In the last decade, quantum simulators, and in particular cold atoms in optical lattices, have emerged as a valuable tool to study strongly correlated quantum matter. These experiments are now reaching regimes that are numerically difficult or impossible to access. In particular they have started to fulfill a promise which has contributed significantly to defining and shaping the field of cold atom quantum simulations, namely the exploration of doped and frustrated quantum magnets and the search for the origins of high-temperature superconductivity in the fermionic Hubbard model. Despite many future challenges lying ahead, such as the need to further lower the experimentally accessible temperatures, remarkable studies have already been conducted. Among them, spin-charge separation in one-dimensional systems has been demonstrated, extended-range antiferromagnetism in two-dimensional systems has been observed, connections to modern day large-scale numerical simulations were made, and unprecedented comparisons with microscopic trial wavefunctions have been carried out at finite doping. In many regards, the field has acquired new realms, putting old ideas to a new test and producing new insights and inspiration for the next generation of physicists. In the first part of this paper, we review the results achieved in cold atom realizations of the Fermi–Hubbard model in recent years. We put special emphasis on the new probes available in quantum gas microscopes, such as higher-order correlation functions, full counting statistics, the ability to study far-from-equilibrium dynamics, machine learning and pattern recognition of instantaneous snapshots of the many-body wavefunction, and access to non-local correlators. Our review is written from a theoretical perspective, but aims to provide basic understanding of the experimental procedures. We cover one-dimensional systems, where the phenomenon of spin-charge separation is ubiquitous, and two-dimensional systems where we distinguish between situations with and without doping. Throughout, we focus on the strong coupling regime where the Hubbard interactions U dominate and connections to t−J models can be justified. In the second part of this paper, with the stage set and the current state of the field in mind, we propose a new direction for cold atoms to explore: namely mixed-dimensional bilayer systems, where the charge motion is restricted to individual layers which remain coupled through spin-exchange. These systems can be directly realized experimentally and we argue that they have a rich phase diagram, potentially including a strongly correlated BEC-to-BCS cross-over and regimes with different superconducting order parameters, as well as complex parton phases and possibly even analogs of tetraquark states. In particular, we propose a novel, strong pairing mechanism in these systems, which puts the formation of hole pairs at experimentally accessible, elevated temperatures within reach. Ultimately we propose to explore how the physics of the mixed-dimensional bilayer system can be connected to the rich phenomenology of the single-layer Hubbard model.