MQV Colloquium: Johannes Zeiher

"Quantum simulation and quantum computing with neutral-atom arrays"

Johannes Zeiher – MPQ

Abstract

Systems of many interacting quantum particles in and out of equilibrium feature numerous fascinating emergent properties. Their detailed understanding is essential to interesting applications such as quantum sensors or quantum computers. Neutral atoms trapped in optical tweezers or optical lattices are an aspiring platform for experimentally studying the physics of such many-body systems, and to uncover the microscopic physical mechanisms underlying the complexity found in real materials or enhanced performance of quantum sensors.

In this talk, I will report on our recent progress on experimentally realizing large-scale neutral-atom quantum simulators with microscopic single-atom control. I will demonstrate the versatility of our approach to understanding many-body systems by discussing recent experiments performed on Hubbard models in and out of equilibrium.

Furthermore, I will introduce a new strontium setup that combines large-scale optical lattices with local control achieved through tweezer arrays. I will present our efforts on loading, cooling, and imaging individual strontium atoms in optical tweezers and lattices, where we obtain high-fidelity and low-loss imaging performance using repulsive Sisyphus-cooling. Combining optical tweezer arrays with lattices opens new perspectives to scale tweezer-based quantum simulators to larger system sizes and an alternative preparation route of assembled Hubbard systems in optical lattices without the need for evaporation.

Short bio

Johannes Zeiher studied physics at the LMU Munich and the University of Cambridge, where he obtained his masters degree in 2012. He did his PhD in the group of Immanuel Bloch at MPQ, focusing on quantum simulations with neutral atoms in optical lattices, in particular employing highly excited Rydberg states for realizing quantum spin models. For this work, he received the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society. Following his postdoc as a Feodor Lynen Fellow at UC Berkeley with Dan Stamper-Kurn on single-atom cavity QED, in 2020 he joined the Quantum Many-Body Systems Division at MPQ as a research group leader. Since 2022, he leads the independent research group “Quantum Matter Interfaces” at MPQ, which is supported by the BMBF through the Quantum Future program for Junior Research Groups. His research focuses on quantum computing, quantum gas microscopy of many- and few-body systems in optical lattices and novel light-matter interfaces.