Periodic Reporting for period 5 - TOPSIM (Topology and symmetries in synthetic fermionic systems)
Reporting period: 2022-11-01 to 2023-04-30
We have also synthesized fermionic systems exhibiting enlarged interaction symmetries beyond the SU(2) symmetry of electrons. By using the same laser manipulation technique that enabled us to create synthetic dimensions, we have realized “synthetic materials” where the atoms exhibit the same behavior that was predicted for the electrons in certain classes of high-temperature superconductors.
We have also worked on new technologies for the manipulation and detection of ultracold quantum states based on the excitation of the atoms with an ultranarrow optical clock transition coupling long-lived electronic states. We have used this approach to probe the properties of quantum states and to control the binding of atoms into molecules, that can have implications for the quantum simulation of exotic superconductor states and even for new metrological applications.
We have also developed new theoretical ideas, based on the TOPSIM approach, that have extended the scope of the project and could lead to the observation of novel states of matter.
All the above results were presented at international conferences and have been made available to the scientific community in open-access publications.
We have also realized new experimental platforms that are promising for the quantum simulation of unconventional superconductivity, and demonstrated new techniques for the manipulation of strongly interacting atoms in different electronic states, which are highly relevant both for the quantum simulation of strongly correlated quantum states, and in a more metrological context for the development of new atomic clocks.
As shown by several theoretical works, the experimental approach we have developed in TOPSIM has the potential to access the physics of strongly correlated states of matter, including the quantum Hall effect, topological magnetic phases and systems with Majorana-like excitations, in a way that, until now, was not possible in other physical systems and in other quantum simulation approaches.