Quantum Café: Zoe Yan

Title: Local Probes of Correlated Matter in Atomic and Molecular Quantum Simulators

Abstract: Exploring emergent behaviors in strongly interacting quantum systems is a frontier area. I will resent an overview of quantum simulation with ultracold atoms and molecules, focusing on advances enabled by microscopy techniques that probe ultracold gases at the single-particle level. I will focus on recent work detecting spin polarons in kinetically frustrated Fermi-Hubbard systems, as well as quantum dynamics of a Heisenberg model realized by polar molecules.

Next, I will present new efforts at UChicago toward building novel quantum phases of matter using the emerging technology of “ultra polar” molecules cooled to nan okelvin temperatures. Specifically, we hope to realize exotic topological superfluids built from interacting gases of KAg molecules, which could feature extraordinary characteristics such as resistance to disorder, frictionless flow, and the emergence of Majorana particles. Another complementary goal is to control che mical reactions built from the bottom up by tailoring light-matter interactions of individual particles coupled to an optical cavity. These capabilities will address fundamental questions relevant to condensed matter, atomic physics, and physical chemistry.