Observing Localization in a 2D Quasicrystalline Optical Lattice

Matteo Sbroscia, Konrad Viebahn, Edward Carter, Jr-Chiun Yu, Alexander Gaunt, and Ulrich Schneider
Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 200604 – Published 13 November 2020
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Abstract

Quasicrystals are long-range ordered but not periodic, representing an interesting middle ground between order and disorder. We experimentally and numerically study the localization transition in the ground state of noninteracting and weakly interacting bosons in an eightfold symmetric quasicrystalline optical lattice. In contrast to typically used real space in situ techniques, we probe the system in momentum space by recording matter wave diffraction patterns. Shallow lattices lead to extended states whereas we observe a localization transition at a critical lattice depth of V01.78(2)Erec for the noninteracting system. Our measurements and Gross-Pitaevskii simulations demonstrate that in interacting systems the transition is shifted to deeper lattices, as expected from superfluid order counteracting localization. Quasiperiodic potentials, lacking conventional rare regions, provide the ideal testing ground to realize many-body localization in 2D.

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  • Received 2 June 2020
  • Accepted 18 September 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.200604

© 2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & OpticalStatistical Physics & ThermodynamicsCondensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Matteo Sbroscia1,*, Konrad Viebahn1,2, Edward Carter1, Jr-Chiun Yu1, Alexander Gaunt3, and Ulrich Schneider1,†

  • 1Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom
  • 2Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
  • 3DeepMind, 6 Pancras Square, London N1C 4AG, United Kingdom

  • *Present address: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California 91109, USA.
  • uws20@cam.ac.uk

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Issue

Vol. 125, Iss. 20 — 13 November 2020

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