Chemical reactions in a statistical ensemble are conventionally regarded as incoherent processes driven by thermodynamics. In the quantum degenerate regime, where atoms and molecules form coherent matter waves, reactions are theoretically described by nonlinear mixing of matter-wave fields. In this scenario, we expect phase matching between reactants and products, analogous to the mixing of photonic fields in nonlinear optics. Here we report on the observation of phase coherent reaction dynamics of Bose-condensed atoms and molecules near a Feshbach resonance. Using matter-wave diffraction with optical lattices, we verify spatial coherence of both atoms and molecules and observe phase doubling when atomic waves combine into molecular waves, the matter-wave analogue of optical frequency doubling. The diffraction patterns further reveal two-atom entanglement generated during the reaction. Our observations establish phase coherence and entanglement generation as two essential features of "quantum many-body chemistry". Moreover, our work opens a pathway to control of reaction dynamics by manipulation of matter-wave phases.

Scalable arrays of individual atoms provide an ideal starting point for quantum information and simulation experiments. However, their preparation is often limited by light-assisted collisions (LACs), which typically result in parity-projected filling fractions of f ≈ 0.5. In this work we demonstrate a light-assisted redistribution process in the Quantum Matter Synthesizer that overcomes this constraint by stochastically moving atoms from multiply occupied lattice sites to neighboring vacant sites. Using a blue-detuned optical pumping beam during degenerate Raman sideband cooling, we achieve single-atom filling fractions of 70-80%. We find that over 50% of the atoms involved in radiative collisions are retained in the lattice. The redistribution process involves many LACs over an extended time as atoms diffuse to empty sites. Our demonstration offers a scalable and efficient pathway toward unity-filled atom arrays without the need for complex rearrangement protocols, with broad applicability to quantum simulation, precision measurements, and quantum information control.

The Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction and Efimov physics are two distinct quantum phenomena in condensed matter and nuclear physics, respectively. The RKKY interaction describes correlations between impurities mediated by an electron gas, while Efimov physics describes universal bound states of three particles with resonant interactions. Recently, both effects have been observed in Bose-Fermi mixtures in the weak and resonant interaction regimes, respectively. Intriguing conjectures exist to elucidate how the two phenomena meet in the transition regime where the mixture is strongly interacting. In this Letter, we explore the RKKY-Efimov transition in a mixture of bosonic ^{133}Cs and fermionic ^{6}Li near a tunable interspecies Feshbach resonance. From dispersion and relaxation measurements, we find that the transition is highlighted by a fermion-mediated scattering resonance between Cs atoms and a weaker resonance on Li atoms. These resonances represent reactive scattering of Cs and Li atoms in the many-body regime, which reduce to an Efimov resonance in the thermal gas regime. Our observation demonstrates the intriguing interplay of two-, three-, and many-body physics in a Bose-Fermi mixture that connects condensed matter physics, nuclear physics, and quantum many-body chemistry.

When two or more energy bands become degenerate at a singular point in the momentum space, such singularity, or “Dirac points", gives rise to intriguing quantum phenomena as well as unusual material properties. Systems at the Dirac points can possess topological charges and their unique properties can be probed by various methods, such as transport measurement, interferometry and momentum spectroscopy. While the topology of Dirac point in the momentum space is well studied theoretically, observation of topological defects in a many-body quantum systems at Dirac point remain an elusive goal. Based on atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in a graphene-like optical honeycomb lattice, we directly observe emergence of quantized vortices at the Dirac point. The phase diagram of lattice bosons at the Dirac point is revealed. Our work provides a new way of generating vortices in a quantum gas, and the method is generic and can be applied to different types of optical lattices with topological singularity, especially twisted bilayer optical lattices.

We describe recent theoretical and experimental developments on mediated interactions in mixtures of bosonic and fermionic atoms. We discuss how particle-hole excitations of a Fermi sea can induce long-range interactions between heavy impurities or atoms in a Bose-Einstein condensate. Conversely, phonon excitations of a Bose-Einstein condensate induce interactions between fermionic atoms. These mediated interactions exhibit different short-range and long-range scaling regimes with distance and, if strong enough, can induce fermion superfluidity. We discuss the prospects for observing new phenomena that could arise from mediated interactions. Experimentally, we outline recent studies of the 133Cs-6Li Bose-Fermi mixture, a platform well-suited for investigating fermion-mediated interactions. A Cs Bose-Einstein condensate immersed in a degenerate Li Fermi gas is prepared with tunable interspecies interactions. In the weak-coupling regime, precision measurements of condensate properties reveal fermion-mediated attractions between bosons, matching theoretical predictions. In the strong-coupling regime, we observe suppression and revival of sound modes and novel many-body resonances. Altogether, we aim to highlight both instances where experiment and theory agree well, and promising prospects to engineer long-range interactions in atomic quantum gases.

Understanding and controlling interactions of ultracold molecules is a cornerstone of quantum chemistry. While the laboratory creation of degenerate molecular gases comprised of bosonic atoms has unlocked powerful platforms for quantum simulation, progress is limited by the absence of a robust theoretical framework for characterizing intermolecular interactions. This is in stark contrast to the situation for Fermi gases. In this Letter, we present such a framework providing universal expressions for these molecular scattering lengths as functions of experimentally measurable quantities. Our discoveries are crucial for understanding molecular condensate formation. Calculations of the compressibility reveal that a sign change in such molecular scattering lengths is directly correlated with the instability of these condensates. These results offer fresh insight with broad applications for atomic, molecular, and condensed matter physics, as well as quantum chemistry.

The recent observations of a stable molecular condensate emerging from a condensate of bosonic atoms and related "super-chemical" dynamics have raised an intriguing set of questions. Here we provide a microscopic understanding of this unexpected stability and dynamics in atom-molecule superfluids; we show one essential element behind these phenomena is an extremely narrow Feshbach resonance in 133Cs at 19.849G. Comparing theory and experiment, we demonstrate how this narrow resonance enables the dynamical creation of a large closed-channel molecular fraction superfluid, appearing in the vicinity of unitarity. Theoretically, the observed superchemistry (i.e., Bose-enhanced reactions of atoms and molecules) is found to be assisted by the formation of Cooper-like pairs of bosonic atoms that have opposite momenta. Importantly, this narrow resonance opens the possibility to explore the quantum critical point of a molecular Bose superfluid and related phenomena which would not be possible near a more typically broad Feshbach resonance.

We demonstrate two-dimensional arrays of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) as a new experimental platform with parallel quantum simulation capability. A defect-free array of up to 49 BECs is formed by loading a single BEC with 50,000 atoms into 7*7 optical wells. Each BEC is prepared with independent phases, confirmed by matterwave interference. Based on BEC arrays, we realize fast determination of the phase boundary of BECs with attractive interactions. We also observe the stochastic collapse dynamics from the distribution of atom numbers in the array. We show that the collapse of a BEC can occur much faster than the averaged decay of an ensemble. The BEC arrays enable new forms of experiments to drastically increase the measurement throughput and to quantum simulate, say, large 2D Josephson-junction arrays.

The collective dynamics observed between Bose-condensed atoms and molecules indicate the occurence of macroscopic quantum phenomena. Experimental investigations found that the atomic and molecular populations oscillate at a frequency that scales with the sample size, providing evidence for bosonic enhancement. These findings could make many-body quantum dynamics accessible in ultracold molecule research.

Observation of strong correlations and superconductivity in twisted-bilayer graphene1-4 has stimulated tremendous interest in fundamental and applied physics5-8. In this system, the superposition of two twisted honeycomb lattices, generating a moiré pattern, is the key to the observed flat electronic bands, slow electron velocity and large density of states9-12. Extension of the twisted-bilayer system to new configurations is highly desired, which can provide exciting prospects to investigate twistronics beyond bilayer graphene. Here we demonstrate a quantum simulation of superfluid to Mott insulator transition in twisted-bilayer square lattices based on atomic Bose-Einstein condensates loaded into spin-dependent optical lattices. The lattices are made of two sets of laser beams that independently address atoms in different spin states, which form the synthetic dimension accommodating the two layers. The interlayer coupling is highly controllable by a microwave field, which enables the occurrence of a lowest flat band and new correlated phases in the strong coupling limit. We directly observe the spatial moiré pattern and the momentum diffraction, which confirm the presence of two forms of superfluid and a modified superfluid to insulator transition in twisted-bilayer lattices. Our scheme is generic and can be applied to different lattice geometries and for both boson and fermion systems. This opens up a new direction for exploring moiré physics in ultracold atoms with highly controllable optical lattices.

Particlelike excitations, or quasiparticles, emerging from interacting fermionic and bosonic quantum fields underlie many intriguing quantum phenomena in high energy and condensed matter systems. Computation of the properties of these excitations is frequently intractable in the strong interaction regime. Quantum degenerate Bose-Fermi mixtures offer promising prospects to elucidate the physics of such quasiparticles. In this work, we investigate phonon propagation in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate immersed in a degenerate Fermi gas with interspecies scattering length a_{BF} tuned by a Feshbach resonance. We observe sound mode softening with moderate attractive interactions. For even greater attraction, surprisingly, stable sound propagation reemerges and persists across the resonance. The stability of phonons with resonant interactions opens up opportunities to investigate novel Bose-Fermi liquids and fermionic pairing in the strong interaction regime.

Chemical reactions in the quantum degenerate regime are described by mixing of matterwave fields. Quantum coherence and bosonic enhancement are two unique features of many-body reactions involving bosonic reactants and products. Such collective reactions of chemicals, dubbed “super-chemistry”, is an elusive goal in quantum chemistry research. Here we report the observation of coherent and collective reactive coupling between Bose condensed atoms and molecules near a Feshbach resonance. Starting from an atomic condensate, the reaction begins with a rapid formation of molecules, followed by oscillations of their populations in the equilibration process. Faster oscillations are observed in samples with higher densities, indicating bosonic enhancement. We present a quantum field model which describes the dynamics well and identifies three body recombination as the dominant reaction process. Our findings exemplify the highly sought-after quantum many-body chemistry and offer a new paradigm for the control of quantum chemical reactions.

The creation of a Hamiltonian in the quantum regime which has non-trivial topological features is a central goal of the cold-atom community, enabling widespread exploration of novel phases of quantum matter. A general scheme to synthesize such Hamiltonians is based on dynamical modulation of optical lattices which thereby generate vector potentials. At the same time the modulation can lead to heating and serious difficulties with equilibration. Here we show that these challenges can be overcome by demonstrating how a Hofstadter Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) can be dynamically realized, using experimental protocols. From Gross-Pitaevskii simulations our study reveals a complex, multistage evolution; this includes a chaotic intermediate "heating" stage followed by a spontaneous reentrance to the BEC. The observed behavior is reminiscent of evolution in cosmological models.

The quantum matter synthesizer (QMS) is a new quantum simulation platform in which individual particles in a lattice can be resolved and re-arranged into arbitrary patterns. The ability to spatially manipulate ultracold atoms and control their tunneling and interactions at the single-particle level allows full control of a many-body quantum system. We present the design and characterization of the QMS, which integrates into a single ultra-stable apparatus a two-dimensional optical lattice, a moving optical tweezer array formed by a digital micromirror device, and site-resolved atomic imaging. We demonstrate excellent mechanical stability between the lattice and tweezer array with relative fluctuations below 10 nm, high-speed real-time control of the tweezer array at a 2.52 kHz refresh rate, and diffraction-limited imaging at a resolution of 655 nm. The QMS also features new technologies and schemes such as nanotextured anti-reflective windows and all-optical long-distance transport of atoms.