Investigating Many-body Quantum Transport in Momentum Space using Kicked Ultracold Gases

Understanding the simultaneous effects of both many-body interactions and disorder is at the core of developing a realistic model for quantum transport in real materials. We have leveraged the precision and tunability of ultracold atoms, specifically bosonic 174-Yb, to observe the 3D many-body Anderson metal-insulator transition in synthetic momentum space using quasi-periodic kicks of standing-wave laser pulses. We observe interaction-driven delocalization of a non-universal sub-diffusive nature, pushing the transition boundary to lower values of tunneling and disorder parameters [1, 2]. The experimental investigation is compared with numerical simulations using the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We will also report on progress towards studies of out-of-equilibrium quantum dynamics of kicked quantum gases of paired 6-Li. We load 6-Li into an optical dipole trap after D1 laser cooling. Using a magnetic Feshbach resonance, both tunable and strong interactions and pairing across the BEC-BCS crossover can be achieved in this system. As compared to the prior study with bosonic ytterbium, interaction-tunable fermionic lithium allows access to both larger areas of parameter space and different quantum statistics in the investigation of many-body quantum transport.

[1] J. See Toh et. al, Nat Phys 18, 1297–1301 (2022)

[2] J. See Toh et. al, in preparation.