Experiments with Atomic and Molecular Quantum Gas Microscopes

Abstract

Physical models that account for electron-electron interactions are required to ex plain the behavior of strongly correlated materials, such as high-temperature super conductors and quantum magnets. Because of the added complexity of such models, these systems are difficult to computationally simulate. As an alternative to tradi tional simulations on classical computers, ultracold gases can act as powerful quantum simulators. Quantum gas microscopy, a recently introduced tool for studying ultra cold gas systems, has helped take experiments with ultracold atoms to the next level by allowing for manipulation and observation of single atoms in a lattice of thousands of atoms.

The Bakr lab at Princeton University is currently running experiments with a 6Li quantum gas microscope to explore strongly-correlated systems, such as the Fermi Hubbard model. However, atomic gas experiments, like the 6Li microscope, are lim ited to exploring short-range interactions. As a result, the Bakr lab is developing a molecular microscope with 23Na87Rb molecules in order to explore systems with long range interactions. This thesis presents results from spectral function measurements taken with the 6Li Fermi gas microscope, in an attractive Fermi-Hubbard system to benchmark a new ARPES (angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy) technique developed for lattice systems. Next, I turn to describing the early stages of develop ment of the 23Na87Rb molecular microscope, which I contributed to, focusing on the confinement of 87Rb in a magneto-optical trap (MOT).