Realization of strongly-interacting Meissner phase in large bosonic flux ladders

Periodically driven quantum systems can realize novel phases of matter, enabling the study of topological many-body physics through the creation of synthetic gauge fields. In this talk, we will present our recent experimental results on the realization of the strongly-interacting Meissner phase in a large bosonic two-leg ladder. Using a quantum gas microscope combined with local basis rotations, we investigate the emerging equilibrium particle currents with single-bond resolution. Our observations reveal chiral currents and their interaction-dependent scaling, providing direct experimental evidence of the interacting Mott-Meissner phase. Moreover, by comparing the density correlations with numerical simulations, we benchmark the effective temperature of our system to be on the order of the tunneling coupling.