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Thermodynamics of a deeply degenerate SU(N)-symmetric Fermi gas

Nature Physics volume 16, pages 1216–1221 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Many-body quantum systems can exhibit a striking degree of symmetry unparallelled in their classical counterparts. In real materials SU(N) symmetry is an idealization, but this symmetry is pristinely realized in fully controllable ultracold alkaline-earth atomic gases. Here, we study an SU(N)-symmetric Fermi liquid of 87Sr atoms, where N can be tuned to be as large as 10. In the deeply degenerate regime, we show through precise measurements of density fluctuations and expansion dynamics that the large N of spin states under SU(N) symmetry leads to pronounced interaction effects in a system with a nominally negligible interaction parameter. Accounting for these effects, we demonstrate thermometry accurate to 1% of the Fermi energy. We also demonstrate record speed for preparing degenerate Fermi seas enabled by the SU(N)-symmetric interactions, reaching T/TF = 0.22 with 10 nuclear spin states in 0.6 s working with a laser-cooled sample. This, along with the introduction of a new spin polarizing method, enables the operation of a three-dimensional optical lattice clock in the band insulating regime.

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Fig. 1: Degenerate bosons, fermions and SU(N) fermions.
Fig. 2: Preparation of a degenerate Fermi gas.
Fig. 3: Local density fluctuations of an SU(N) degenerate gas.
Fig. 4: Cloud anisotropy.
Fig. 5: Interaction signatures.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author L.S. on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Bothwell, C. Kennedy, E. Oelker and J. Robinson for discussions and technical contributions. We also thank J. Thompson and C. Kennedy for reading the manuscript. This work is supported by NIST, DARPA, and AFOSR grant nos. FA9550-19-1-0275 and FA9550-18-1-0319, and NSF grant no. PHYS-1734006. C.S. thanks the Humboldt Foundation for support.

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Author notes

  1. Akihisa Goban

    Present address: Waseda Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

  2. These authors contributed equally: Lindsay Sonderhouse, Christian Sanner.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. JILA, NIST and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    Lindsay Sonderhouse, Christian Sanner, Ross B. Hutson, Akihisa Goban, Thomas Bilitewski, Lingfeng Yan, William R. Milner, Ana M. Rey & Jun Ye

  2. Center for Theory of Quantum Matter, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    Thomas Bilitewski & Ana M. Rey

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Contributions

L.S., C.S., R.B.H., A.G., L.Y., W.R.M. and J.Y. contributed to the experimental measurements. T.B. and A.M.R. developed the theoretical model. All authors discussed the results, contributed to the data analysis and worked together on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lindsay Sonderhouse or Jun Ye.

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Peer review information Nature Physics thanks Stefano Giorgini, Florian Schreck and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Sonderhouse, L., Sanner, C., Hutson, R.B. et al. Thermodynamics of a deeply degenerate SU(N)-symmetric Fermi gas. Nat. Phys. 16, 1216–1221 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-0986-6

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