With the first realization of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) passing its 25th anniversary, the field of ultracold atoms is rapidly progressing towards physical scenarios that go far beyond the scope originally envisioned. Recently, two emerging platforms sparked enthusiasm as they promise novel enhanced opportunities for quantum science: dipolar quantum gases with magnetic lanthanides and tweezer arrays of alkaline-earth Rydberg atoms. These two systems provide complementary approaches to the study of the fascinating phases and phenomena of long-range interacting quantum matter. The interplay of long- and short-range interactions already showed dramatic consequences with novel, fascinating, and sometimes unexpected few- and many-body phenomena, such as chaotic scattering, Fermi surface deformation, roton excitation modes, liquid-like self-bound droplets, and the long-sought supersolid states of matter.
DyMETEr will create novel quantum platforms of enhanced capability by using ultracold lanthanides, specifically Erbium and Dysprosium, as building-block to unprecedentedly access many-body phases of dipolar mixtures, realize dipolar quantum gas microscopy, and implement multi-valence-electron Rydberg quantum simulators. More specifically, the main project objectives of DyMETEr are the preparation and study of many-body phases of matter in dipolar quantum mixtures, the realization of a dipolar mixture quantum gas microscope to unveil exotic new quantum phases of dipoles in solid-state like crystal structures, and the demonstration of a quantum simulator using multi-valence-electron Rydberg atoms in reconfigurable Tweezer arrays. These objectives are at the frontiers of research that a few years ago we could only dream of but that today define the three goals of DyMETEr.
