Realization of SU(2)*SU(6) Fermi System

TL;DR

This paper reports the creation of a degenerate Fermi mixture of ytterbium isotopes with SU(2)*SU(6) symmetry, enabling exploration of novel quantum phases like spinor superfluids in optical lattices.

Contribution

It demonstrates the realization of an SU(2)*SU(6) symmetric Fermi mixture with identical scattering lengths and implements the SU(2)*SU(6) Hubbard model in an optical lattice.

Findings

Achieved cooling below the Fermi temperature for both isotopes.

Successfully imaged nuclear spin components using optical Stern-Gerlach.

Loaded the mixture into a 3D optical lattice for quantum simulation.

Abstract

We report the realization of a novel degenerate Fermi mixture with an SU(2)*SU(6) symmetry in a cold atomic gas. We successfully cool the mixture of the two fermionic isotopes of ytterbium 171Yb with the nuclear spin I=1/2 and 173Yb with I=5/2 below the Fermi temperature T_ F as 0.46T_F for 171Yb and 0.54T_F for 173Yb. The same scattering lengths for different spin components make this mixture featured with the novel SU(2)*SU(6) symmetry. The nuclear spin components are separately imaged by exploiting an optical Stern-Gerlach effect. In addition, the mixture is loaded into a 3D optical lattice to implement the SU(2)*SU(6) Hubbard model. This mixture will open the door to the study of novel quantum phases such as a spinor Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer-like fermionic superfluid.