Topological pumping of a 1D dipolar gas into strongly correlated prethermal states

Abstract

Making a quantum pump Most nonequilibrium, many-particle systems eventually reach a thermal state. However, some one-dimensional quantum systems do not thermalize, although they may settle into a long-term equilibrium state. Kao et al. studied such a system consisting of dipolar dysprosium atoms confined in an optical potential shaped like a two-dimensional array of elongated tubes. The authors cycled the contact interaction between the atoms in a prescribed way, creating increasingly excited nonthermal quantum many-body states. Science , this issue p. 296