We study the two-body problem of the ultracold fermionic alkaline-earth (like) atoms in the electronic $^1$S$_0$ state ($g$-state) and $^3$P$_0$ state ($e$-state), which are confined in a quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) tube. In addition, in the axial direction, the $g$-atom experience a 1D optical lattice and the $e$-atom is localized by a harmonic potential. In this work, we propose two appropriate tight-binding models, which are applicable for the cases that the odd-wave scattering between the $g$- and $e$-atom is negligible or not, respectively. We further give a microscopic derivation for the inter-atomic interaction parameters of these tight-binding models, by exactly calculating the low-energy inter-atomic scattering amplitude. Our results show that, as one can predict, these interaction parameters can be efficiently controlled by the confinement potentials. We further exam the simple "projection approximation" with which one derives the interaction parameters by directly projecting the 3D Huang-Yang pseudopotential on the ground state of the confinement and the lowest band of the optical lattice. We find that one should be very careful about determining the interaction parameters in the tight-binding models. Furthermore, we calculate the spin-exchanging rate, which dependents on the incident quasi-momentum $k$ of the $g$-atom, for the recent experiment (L. Riegger, {\it et. al.,} Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 120}, 143601 (2018)) of $^{173}$Yb atoms in this quasi-(1+0)D system, and study finite-momentum effect in this experiment. Our results show that in this system the finite-momentum effect of the $g$-atom is very significant, and the momentum of the $g$-atoms in this experiment may be pretty high (already in the second Brillouin zone of the optical lattice)
We show that an interplay between quantum effects, strong on-site ferromagnetic exchange interaction and antiferromagnetic correlations in Kondo lattices can give rise to an exotic spin-orbit coupled metallic state in regimes where classical treatments predict a trivial insulating behavior. This phenomenon can be simulated with ultracold alkaline-earth fermionic atoms subject to a laser-induced magnetic field by observing dynamics of spin-charge excitations in quench experiments.
We propose a scheme to investigate the interplay between Kondo-exchange interaction and quantum spin Hall effect with ultracold fermionic alkaline-earth atoms trapped in two-dimensional optical lattices using ultracold collision and laser-assisted tunneling. In the strong Kondo-coupling regime, though the loop trajectory of the mobile atom disappears, collective dynamics of an atom pair in two clock states can exhibit an unexpected spin-dependent cyclotron orbit in a plaquette, realizing the quantum spin Hall effect of the Kondo singlet. We demonstrate that the collective cyclotron dynamics of…
Recent experiment has observed Feshbach resonances between alkaline and alkaline-earth atoms. These Feshbach resonances are insensitive to the nuclear spin of alkaline-earth atoms. Ultilizing this feature, we propose to take this system as a candidate to perform quantum simulation of the Kondo effect. An alkaline atom can form a molecule with an alkaline-earth atom with different nuclear spins, which plays the role of spin-exchange scattering responsible for the Kondo effect. Furthermore, we point out that the existence of three-body bound state and atom-molecule resonance due to the Efimov ef…
A recent experiment has observed the antiferromagnetic interaction between the ground state $^1S_0$ and the metastable state $^3P_0$ of $^{171}$Yb atoms, which are fermionic. This observation combined with the use of state-dependent optical lattices allows for quantum simulation of the Kondo model. We propose that in this Kondo simulator the anomalous temperature dependence of transport, namely the Kondo effect, can be detected through quench dynamics triggered by the shift of a trap potential. For this purpose, we improve the numerical efficiency of the minimally entangled typical thermal sta…
The Kondo effect describes the spin-exchanging interaction between localized impurity and the itinerant fermions. The ultracold alkaline-earth atomic gas provides a natural platform for quantum simulation of the Kondo model, utilizing its long-lived clock state and the nuclear-spin exchanging interaction between the clock state and the ground state. One of the key issue now is whether the Kondo temperature can be high enough to be reached in current experiment, for which we have proposed using a transverse confinement to confine atoms into a one-dimensional tube and to utilize the confinement-…
We study transport properties of alkaline-earth atoms governed by the Kondo Lattice Hamiltonian plus a harmonic confining potential, and suggest simple dynamical probes of several different regimes of the phase diagram that can be implemented with current experimental techniques. In particular, we show how Kondo physics at strong coupling, low density, and in the heavy fermion phase is manifest in the dipole oscillations of the conduction band upon displacement of the trap center.
We demonstrate that laser excitations can coherently induce a novel Kondo effect in ultracold atoms in optical lattices. Using a model of alkaline-earth fermions with two orbitals, it is shown that the optically coupled two internal states are dynamically entangled to form the Kondo-singlet state, overcoming the heating effect due to the irradiation. Furthermore, a lack of SU($N$) symmetry in the optical coupling provides a peculiar feature in the Kondo effect, which results in spin-selective renormalization of effective masses. We also discuss effects of interorbital exchange interactions, an…
We investigate the Kondo effect in an open quantum system, motivated by recent experiments with ultracold alkaline-earth(-like) atoms. Because of inelastic collisions and the associated atom losses, this system is described by a complex-valued Kondo interaction and provides a non-Hermitian extension of the Kondo problem. We show that the non-Hermiticity induces anomalous reversion of renormalization-group flows which violate the $g$-theorem due to non-unitarity and produce a quantum phase transition unique to non-Hermiticity. Furthermore, we exactly solve the non-Hermitian Kondo Hamiltonian us…
Ultracold alkaline-earth atoms have now been widely explored for precision measurements and quantum simulation. Because of its unique atomic structure, alkaline earth atoms possess great advantages for quantum simulation and studying quantum many-body matters, such as simulating synthetic gauge field, Kondo physics and $SU(N)$ physics. To fully explore the potential of ultracold alkaline-earth atoms, these systems also need to be equipped with the capability of tuning the inter-atomic interaction to the strongly interacting regime. Recently several theoretical proposals and experimental demons…
We analyze a microscopic mechanism behind coexistence of a heavy Fermi liquid and geometric frustration in Kondo lattices. We consider a geometrically frustrated periodic Anderson model and demonstrate how orbital fluctuations lead to a Kondo-screened phase in the limit of extreme strong frustration when only local {\it singlet} states participate in the low-energy physics. We also propose a setup to realize and study this exotic state with $SU (3)$-symmetric alkaline-earth cold atoms.
Motivated by recent progresses on ultracold alkaline-earth atoms towards the goal of simulating Kondo physics, in this work we exactly solve the few-body problem of one and two trapped fermions in one dimension interacting with a localized impurity under tunable spin-exchange interaction. It is found that depending on the sign of the spin-exchange coupling, ferromagnetic(FM) or anti-ferromagnetic(AFM), the attractive and repulsive branches can hold different magnetic structures. For the two fermions case, we demonstrate the Kondo screening effect for the attractive branch with AFM coupling, an…
We propose a scheme to realize the Kondo model with tunable anisotropy using alkaline-earth atoms in an optical lattice. The new feature of our setup is Floquet engineering of interactions using time-dependent Zeeman shifts, that can be realized either using state-dependent optical Stark shifts or magnetic fields. The properties of the resulting Kondo model strongly depend on the anisotropy of the ferromagnetic interactions. In particular, easy-plane couplings give rise to Kondo singlet formation even though microscopic interactions are all ferromagnetic. We discuss both equilibrium and dynami…
Motivated by recent theoretical and experimental advances in quantum simulations using alkaline earth(AE) atoms, we put forward a proposal to detect the Kondo physics in a cold atomic system. It has been demonstrated that the intrinsic spin-exchange interaction in AE atoms can be significantly enhanced near a confinement-induced resonance(CIR), which facilitates the simulation of Kondo physics. Since the Kondo effect appears only for antiferromagnetic coupling, we find that the conductivity of such a system exhibits an asymmetry across a resonance of spin-exchange interaction. The asymmetric c…
We have theoretically studied the effect of disorder on ultracold alkaline-earth atoms governed by the Kondo lattice model in an optical lattice via simplified double-well model and hybridization mean-field theory. Disorder-induced narrowing and even complete closure of hybridization gap have been predicted and the compressibility of the system has also been investigated for metallic and Kondo insulator phases in the presence of the disordered potential. To make connection to the experimental situation, we have numerically solved the disordered Kondo lattice model with an external harmonic tra…
We study the ground-state properties of the SU(N)-generalization of the Kondo-lattice model in one dimension when the Kondo coupling J_K (both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic) is sufficiently strong. Both cases can be realized using alkaline-earth-like cold gases in optical lattices. Specifically, we first carry out the strong-coupling expansion and identify two insulating phases (one of which is the SU(N)-analogue of the well-known gapped Kondo singlet phase). We then rigorously establish that the ground state in the low-density (for J_K<0) or the high-density (for J_K>0) region is ferrom…
We propose that ultracold alkaline-earth-like atoms confined in one-dimensional optical lattice can realize a Kondo lattice model which hosts a symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase and an associated quantum phase transition in a controllable manner. The symmetry protection of the phase transition is discussed from two different viewpoints: topological properties related to spatial patterns of Kondo singlets, and symmetry eigenvalues of the spin states. We uncover the role of various symmetries in the phase diagram of this system by combining a weak-coupling approach by Abelian bosonizati…
We study, using quantum Monte-Carlo simulations, the bosonic Kondo-Hubbard model in a two dimensional square lattice. We explore the phase diagram and analyse the mobility of particles and magnetic properties. At unit filling, the transition from a paramagnetic Mott insulator to a ferromagnetic superfluid appears continuous, contrary to what was predicted with mean field. For double occupation per site, both the Mott insulating and superfluid phases are ferromagnetic and the transition is still continuous. Multiband tight binding Hamiltonians can be realized in optical lattice experiments, whi…
We propose a spin-dependent optical lattice potential that realizes a three-dimensional antiferromagnetic topological insulator in a gas of cold, two-state fermions such as alkaline earths, as well as a model that describes the tight-binding limit of this potential. We discuss the physically observable responses of the gas that can verify the presence of this phase. We also point out how this model can be used to obtain two-dimensional flat bands with nonzero Chern number.
Ultracold gases of fermionic alkaline-earth (like) atoms are hopeful candidates for the quantum simulation of many-body physics induced by magnetic impurities (e.g., the Kondo physics), because there are spin-exchange interactions (SEIs) between two atoms in the electronic ground ($^1$S$_0$) and metastable ($^3$P) state, respectively. Nevertheless, this SEI cannot be tuned via magnetic Feshbach resonance. In this work we propose three methods to control the SEI between one atom in the $^1$S$_0$ state and another atom in the $^3$P$_2$ states or $^3$P$_2$-$^3$P$_0$ dressed states, with one or tw…
We present a scheme that produces a strong U(1)-like gauge field on cold atoms confined in a two-dimensional square optical lattice. Our proposal relies on two essential features, a long-lived metastable excited state that exists for alkaline-earth or Ytterbium atoms, and an optical superlattice. As in the proposal by Jaksch and Zoller [New Journal of Physics 5, 56 (2003)], laser-assisted tunneling between adjacent sites creates an effective magnetic field. In the tight-binding approximation, the atomic motion is described by the Harper Hamiltonian, with a flux across each lattice plaquette th…
Periodic Anderson model (PAM), where local electron orbitals interplay with itinerant electronic carriers, plays an essential role in our understanding on heavy fermion materials. Motivated by recent proposal of simulating Kondo lattice model (KLM) in terms of alkaline-earth metal atoms, we make a further step toward simulation of PAM, which includes crucial charge/valence fluctuation of local f-electron beyond purely low-energy spin fluctuation in KLM. To realize PAM, transition induced by suitable laser between electronic excited and ground state of alkaline-earth metal atoms ($^{1}S_{0}$$\r…
Alkaline-earth (AE) atoms have metastable clock states with minute-long optical lifetimes, high-spin nuclei, and SU($N$)-symmetric interactions that uniquely position them for advancing atomic clocks, quantum information processing, and quantum simulation. The interplay of precision measurement and quantum many-body physics is beginning to foster an exciting scientific frontier with many opportunities. Few particle systems provide a window to view the emergence of complex many-body phenomena arising from pairwise interactions. Here, we create arrays of isolated few-body systems in a fermionic …
