Probing Slow Relaxation and Many-Body Localization in Two-Dimensional Quasiperiodic Systems


Type
Article
Change log
Authors
Bordia, Pranjal 
Lueschen, Henrik 
Scherg, Sebastian 
Gopalakrishnan, Sarang 
Knap, Michael 
Abstract

In a many-body localized (MBL) quantum system, the ergodic hypothesis breaks down, giving rise to a fundamentally new many-body phase. Whether and under which conditions MBL can occur in higher dimensions remains an outstanding challenge both for experiments and theory. Here, we experimentally explore the relaxation dynamics of an interacting gas of fermionic potassium atoms loaded in a twodimensional optical lattice with different quasiperiodic potentials along the two directions. We observe a dramatic slowing down of the relaxation for intermediate disorder strengths. Furthermore, beyond a critical disorder strength, we see negligible relaxation on experimentally accessible time scales, indicating a possible transition into a two-dimensional MBL phase. Our experiments reveal a distinct interplay of interactions, disorder, and dimensionality and provide insights into regimes where controlled theoretical approaches are scarce.

Description
Keywords
Atomic and Molecular Physics, Condensed Matter Physics
Journal Title
PHYSICAL REVIEW X
Conference Name
Journal ISSN
2160-3308
2160-3308
Volume Title
7
Publisher
American Physical Society (APS)