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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 40: Transport and Localization of interacting Bosons 1
Q 40.2: Vortrag
Mittwoch, 16. März 2011, 16:45–17:00, HSZ 02
Direct observation of quasi-local relaxation with strongly correlated bosons in an optical lattice — •Stefan Trotzky1,2,3, Yu-Ao Chen1,2,3, Andreas Flesch4, Ian P. McCulloch5, Ulrich Schollwöck1,6, Jens Eisert6,7, and Immanuel Bloch1,2,3 — 1Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München — 2MPI für Quantenoptik, Garching — 3Johannes-Gutenberg Universität Mainz — 4Forschungszentrum Jülich — 5University of Queensland — 6Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin — 7Universität Potsdam
The question of how closed quantum systems far from equilibrium come to rest lies at the heart of statistical mechanics. We report the experimental observation of the relaxation dynamics of a one-dimensional bosonic density wave in an optical lattice. Using an optical superlattice, we are able to load Bose-Hubbard chains with each second lattice site occupied. Furthermore, the superlattice allows us to monitor the non-equilibrium dynamics emerging after rapidly switching on the tunnel coupling along the chain in terms of quasi-local densities, currents and correlations. We find a rapid relaxation of all these quantities to steady-state values compatible with those of a maximum entropy state. We compare the experimental results to parameter free time-dependent DMRG simulations, finding excellent agreement. The system thus can be seen as an accurate dynamical quantum simulator for the systematic study of equilibration phenomena in strongly correlated many-body systems.