The power of machine learning (ML) provides the possibility of analyzing experimental measurements with an unprecedented sensitivity. However, it still remains challenging to probe the subtle effects directly related to physical observables and to un
derstand physics behind from ordinary experimental data using ML. Here, we introduce a heuristic machinery by using machine learning analysis. We use our machinery to guide the thermodynamic studies in the density profile of ultracold fermions interacting within SU($N$) spin symmetry prepared in a quantum simulator. Although such spin symmetry should manifest itself in a many-body wavefuction, it is elusive how the momentum distribution of fermions, the most ordinary measurement, reveals the effect of spin symmetry. Using a fully trained convolutional neural network (NN) with a remarkably high accuracy of $sim$94$%$ for detection of the spin multiplicity, we investigate how the accuracy depends on various less-pronounced effects with filtered experimental images. Guided by our machinery, we directly measure a thermodynamic compressibility from density fluctuations within the single image. Our machine learning framework shows a potential to validate theoretical descriptions of SU($N$) Fermi liquids, and to identify less-pronounced effects even for highly complex quantum matter with minimal prior understanding.
High-sensitivity imaging of ultracold atoms is often challenging when interference patterns are imprinted on the imaging light. Such image noises result in low signal-to-noise ratio and limit the capability to extract subtle physical quantities. Here
we demonstrate an advanced fringe removal algorithm for absorption imaging of ultracold atoms, which efficiently suppresses unwanted fringe patterns using a small number of sample images without taking additional reference images. The protocol is based on an image decomposition and projection method with an extended image basis. We apply this scheme to raw absorption images of degenerate Fermi gases for the measurement of atomic density fluctuations and temperatures. The quantitative analysis shows that image noises can be efficiently removed with only tens of reference images, which manifests the efficiency of our protocol. Our algorithm would be of particular interest for the quantum emulation experiments in which several physical parameters need to be scanned within a limited time duration.
Blurring the boundary between bosons and fermions lies at the heart of a wide range of intriguing quantum phenomena in multiple disciplines, ranging from condensed matter physics and atomic, molecular and optical physics to high energy physics. One s
uch example is a multi-component Fermi gas with SU($N$) symmetry that is expected to behave like spinless bosons in the large $N$ limit, where the large number of internal states weakens constraints from the Pauli exclusion principle. However, bosonization in SU($N$) fermions has never been established in high dimensions where exact solutions are absent. Here, we report direct evidence for bosonization in a SU($N$) fermionic ytterbium gas with tunable $N$ in three dimensions (3D). We measure contacts, the central quantity controlling dilute quantum gases, from the momentum distribution, and find that the contact per spin approaches a constant with a 1/$N$ scaling in the low fugacity regime consistent with our theoretical prediction. This scaling signifies the vanishing role of the fermionic statistics in thermodynamics, and allows us to verify bosonization through measuring a single physical quantity. Our work delivers a highly controllable quantum simulator to exchange the bosonic and fermionic statistics through tuning the internal degrees of freedom in any generic dimensions. It also suggests a new route towards exploring multi-component quantum systems and their underlying symmetries with contacts.
We measure collective excitations of a harmonically trapped two-dimensional (2D) SU($N$) Fermi gas of $^{173}$Yb confined to a stack of layers formed by a one-dimensional optical lattice. Quadrupole and breathing modes are excited and monitored in th
e collisionless regime $lvertln(k_F a_{2D})rvertgg 1$ with tunable spin. We observe that the quadrupole mode frequency decreases with increasing number of spin components due to the amplification of the interaction effect by $N$ in agreement with a theoretical prediction based on 2D kinetic equations. The breathing mode frequency, however, is measured to be twice the dipole oscillation frequency regardless of $N$. We also follow the evolution of collective excitations in the dimensional crossover from two to three dimensions and characterize the damping rate of quadrupole and breathing modes for tunable SU($N$) fermions, both of which reveal the enhanced inter-particle collisions for larger spin. Our result paves the way to investigate the collective property of 2D SU($N$) Fermi liquid with enlarged spin.
The collective dipole mode is induced and measured in a spin-orbit (SO) coupled degenerate Fermi gas of $^{173}$Yb atoms. Using a differential optical Stark shift, we split the degeneracy of three hyperfine states in the ground manifold, and independ
ently couple consecutive spin states with the equal Raman transitions. A relatively long-lived spin-orbit-coupled Fermi gas, readily being realized with a narrow optical transition, allows to explore a single-minimum dispersion where three minima of spin-1 system merge into and to monitor collective dipole modes of fermions in the strong coupling regime. The measured oscillation frequency of the dipole mode is compared with the semi-classical calculation in the single-particle regime. Our work should pave the way towards the characterization of spin-orbit-coupled fermions with large spin $s>frac{1}{2}$ in the strong coupling regime.
Observation of topological phases beyond two-dimension (2D) has been an open challenge for ultracold atoms. Here, we realize for the first time a 3D spin-orbit coupled nodal-line semimetal in an optical lattice and observe the bulk line nodes with ul
tracold fermions. The realized topological semimetal exhibits an emergent magnetic group symmetry. This allows to detect the nodal lines by effectively reconstructing the 3D topological band from a series of measurements of integrated spin textures, which precisely render spin textures on the parameter-tuned magnetic-group-symmetric planes. The detection technique can be generally applied to explore 3D topological states of similar symmetries. Furthermore, we observe the band inversion lines from topological quench dynamics, which are bulk counterparts of Fermi arc states and connect the Dirac points, reconfirming the realized topological band. Our results demonstrate the first approach to effectively observe 3D band topology, and open the way to probe exotic topological physics for ultracold atoms in high dimensions.
Symmetry plays a fundamental role in understanding complex quantum matter, particularly in classifying topological quantum phases, which have attracted great interests in the recent decade. An outstanding example is the time-reversal invariant topolo
gical insulator, a symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase in the symplectic class of the Altland-Zirnbauer classification. We report the observation for ultracold atoms of a noninteracting SPT band in a one-dimensional optical lattice and study quench dynamics between topologically distinct regimes. The observed SPT band can be protected by a magnetic group and a nonlocal chiral symmetry, with the band topology being measured via Bloch states at symmetric momenta. The topology also resides in far-from-equilibrium spin dynamics, which are predicted and observed in experiment to exhibit qualitatively distinct behaviors in quenching to trivial and nontrivial regimes, revealing two fundamental types of spin-relaxation dynamics related to bulk topology. This work opens the way to expanding the scope of SPT physics with ultracold atoms and studying nonequilibrium quantum dynamics in these exotic systems.
