Ultracold atomic gases in optical lattices: mimicking condensed matter physics and beyond

TL;DR

This review discusses how ultracold atomic gases in optical lattices can simulate condensed matter systems and address open questions in physics, including disorder, frustration, spinor gases, artificial magnetic fields, and quantum information.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of using ultracold gases as quantum simulators for complex condensed matter phenomena and beyond, highlighting recent progress and challenges.

Findings

Ultracold gases can emulate Hubbard models for condensed matter.

Optical lattices enable simulation of disordered and frustrated systems.

Progress in quantum information processing with lattice gases.

Abstract

We review recent developments in the physics of ultracold atomic and molecular gases in optical lattices. Such systems are nearly perfect realisations of various kinds of Hubbard models, and as such may very well serve to mimic condensed matter phenomena. We show how these systems may be employed as quantum simulators to answer some challenging open questions of condensed matter, and even high energy physics. After a short presentation of the models and the methods of treatment of such systems, we discuss in detail, which challenges of condensed matter physics can be addressed with (i) disordered ultracold lattice gases, (ii) frustrated ultracold gases, (iii) spinor lattice gases, (iv) lattice gases in "artificial" magnetic fields, and, last but not least, (v) quantum information processing in lattice gases. For completeness, also some recent progress related to the above topics with trapped cold gases will be discussed.