Fermionic transport in a homogeneous Hubbard model: Out-of-equilibrium dynamics with ultracold atoms

TL;DR

This study investigates out-of-equilibrium fermionic transport in a homogeneous Hubbard model using ultracold atoms, revealing interaction-induced changes in expansion dynamics and a new dynamic symmetry regardless of interaction sign.

Contribution

It demonstrates the first experimental observation of out-of-equilibrium fermionic transport in a homogeneous Hubbard model with ultracold atoms, highlighting the effects of interactions and a novel symmetry.

Findings

Ballistic transport observed for non-interacting atoms

Interactions cause bimodal expansion with reduced velocity

Expansion dynamics are independent of interaction sign

Abstract

Transport properties are among the defining characteristics of many important phases in condensed matter physics. In the presence of strong correlations they are difficult to predict even for model systems like the Hubbard model. In real materials they are in general obscured by additional complications including impurities, lattice defects or multi-band effects. Ultracold atoms in contrast offer the possibility to study transport and out-of-equilibrium phenomena in a clean and well-controlled environment and can therefore act as a quantum simulator for condensed matter systems. Here we studied the expansion of an initially confined fermionic quantum gas in the lowest band of a homogeneous optical lattice. While we observe ballistic transport for non-interacting atoms, even small interactions render the expansion almost bimodal with a dramatically reduced expansion velocity. The dynamics is independent of the sign of the interaction, revealing a novel, dynamic symmetry of the Hubbard model.