Photon-Assisted Tunneling in a Biased Strongly Correlated Bose Gas

TL;DR

This paper investigates photon-assisted tunneling in a strongly correlated Bose gas under bias, revealing interaction-shifted resonances, phase transitions, and quench dynamics, with implications for topological physics and quantum computing.

Contribution

It demonstrates the control of tunneling resonances and phase transitions in a biased Bose gas using photon assistance, advancing quantum simulation capabilities.

Findings

Observation of sharp, interaction-shifted photon-assisted tunneling resonances.

Realization of a quantum phase transition between paramagnet and antiferromagnet.

Detection of quench dynamics at the critical point.

Abstract

We study the impact of coherently generated lattice photons on an atomic Mott insulator subjected to a uniform force. Analogous to an array of tunnel-coupled and biased quantum dots, we observe sharp, interaction-shifted photon-assisted tunneling resonances corresponding to tunneling one and two lattice sites either with or against the force, and resolve multiorbital shifts of these resonances. By driving a Landau-Zener sweep across such a resonance, we realize a quantum phase transition between a paramagnet and an antiferromagnet, and observe quench dynamics when the system is tuned to the critical point. Direct extensions will produce gauge fields and site-resolved spin flips, for topological physics and quantum computing.