Cold-atom experiment mimics aspect of high-temperature superconductivity
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028677
Science : A team led by Randall Hulet of Rice University in Houston, Texas, has trapped a collection of 100 000 to 250 000 lithium-6 ions in an optical lattice and, using lasers, caused the ions to settle into an antiferromagnetic state—that is, a pattern in which neighboring spins alternate between up and down. The feat is significant because high-temperature superconductivity emerges from a antiferromagnetic state. What’s more, Hulet’s lattice is a physical embodiment of the Fermi–Hubbard model, a physically simple yet mathematically intractable description of electron–electron interactions. With further experimental advances, Hulet and his team could prove (or disprove) whether the model is sufficient to capture the physics of high-temperature superconductivity.