QUIONE: A quantum simulator based on ultracold strontium atoms

Speaker: Antonio Rubio, postdoctoral researcher at ICFO - The Institute of Photonic Sciences, Spain.
Abstract: Neutral atoms have a wide range of applications in quantum science and technology. Strontium atoms, in particular, are popular for their use as atomic clocks in the field of quantum metrology. But recently, their preparation in optical lattices and tweezers has also been exploited for quantum simulation and quantum computing. In this talk I will present QUIONE: an analog quantum simulator able to detect individual strontium atoms. The experiment, built at ICFO, constitutes the first strontium quantum-gas microscope. This means that we can prepare quantum-degenerate gases in an optical lattice and detect them with single-site resolution. By using a bosonic isotope, we can realize the Bose-Hubbard model and use our microscope to prepare and detect superfluid phases of matter. Finally, I will also show that, by switching to a different isotope of strontium, we can prepare fermionic gases, and will soon allow us to study the exotic phases of the SU(N) Hubbard model.