Realizing the Emery Model in Optical Lattices for Quantum Simulation of Cuprates and Nickelates

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to simulate the Emery model, a key theoretical framework for understanding high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates and nickelates, using ultracold atoms in optical lattices.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum simulation scheme for the Emery model in optical lattices, enabling exploration of three-band physics relevant to high-temperature superconductors.

Findings

Design of a 2D optical lattice with superimposed potentials for Emery model simulation

Feasibility of studying low-temperature properties in regimes relevant to cuprates and nickelates

Potential to advance understanding of unconventional superconductivity through quantum simulation

Abstract

The microscopic origin of high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates remains one of the central open questions in condensed matter physics. Growing experimental and theoretical evidence suggests that the bare single-band Fermi-Hubbard model may not fully capture properties of cuprates such as superconductivity, motivating us to revisit the canonical three-band model of the copper-oxide planes - the Emery model - from which the single-band counterpart was originally derived. Here, we propose and analyze a quantum simulation scheme for realizing the Emery model in regimes relevant to cuprates and infinite-layer nickelates with today's ultracold atom quantum simulation platforms, enabling the exploration of the three-band physics on system sizes that are challenging for current numerical methods. Specifically, we show that a two-dimensional optical lattice with a superimposed pattern of repulsive potentials can be designed to study low-temperature properties for variable parameter regimes of the Emery model relevant to cuprates as well as infinite-layer nickelates. Our results pave the way for real material simulations with ultracold atom quantum simulators and a better understanding of the physics of unconventional superconductors.