Emil Kirilov

Order of Magnitude Smaller Limit on the Electric Dipole Moment of the Electron

Stubbornly Spherical The shape of the electrons charge distribution reflects the degree to which switching the direction of time impacts the basic ingredients of the universe. The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics predicts a very slight asphericity of the charge distribution, whereas SM extensions such as supersymmetry posit bigger and potentially measurable, but still tiny, deviations from a perfect sphere. Polar molecules have been identified as ideal settings for measuring this asymmetry, which should be reflected in a finite electric dipole moment (EDM) because of the extremely large effective electric fields that act on an electron inside such molecules. Using electron spin precession in the molecule ThO, Baron et al. (p. 269, published online 19 December; see the cover; see the Perspective by Brown) measured the EDM of the electron as consistent with zero. This excludes some of the extensions to the SM and sets a bound to the search for a nonzero EDM in other facilities, such as the Large Hadron Collider. Spin precession measurements in the polar molecule thorium monoxide indicate a nearly spherical charge distribution of an electron. [Also see Perspective by Brown] The Standard Model of particle physics is known to be incomplete. Extensions to the Standard Model, such as weak-scale supersymmetry, posit the existence of new particles and interactions that are asymmetric under time reversal (T) and nearly always predict a small yet potentially measurable electron electric dipole moment (EDM), de, in the range of 10−27 to 10−30 e·cm. The EDM is an asymmetric charge distribution along the electron spin (S→) that is also asymmetric under T. Using the polar molecule thorium monoxide, we measured de = (–2.1 ± 3.7stat ± 2.5syst) × 10−29 e·cm. This corresponds to an upper limit of | de | < 8.7 × 10−29 e·cm with 90% confidence, an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity relative to the previous best limit. Our result constrains T-violating physics at the TeV energy scale.

Quantum quench in an atomic one-dimensional Ising chain.

We study nonequilibrium dynamics for an ensemble of tilted one-dimensional atomic Bose-Hubbard chains after a sudden quench to the vicinity of the transition point of the Ising paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic quantum phase transition. The quench results in coherent oscillations for the orientation of effective Ising spins, detected via oscillations in the number of doubly occupied lattice sites. We characterize the quench by varying the system parameters. We report significant modification of the tunneling rate induced by interactions and show clear evidence for collective effects in the oscillatory response.

Interaction-induced quantum phase revivals and evidence for the transition to the quantum chaotic regime in 1D atomic Bloch oscillations.

We study atomic Bloch oscillations in an ensemble of one-dimensional tilted superfluids in the Bose-Hubbard regime. For large values of the tilt, we observe interaction-induced coherent decay and matter-wave quantum phase revivals of the Bloch oscillating ensemble. We analyze the revival period dependence on interactions by means of a Feshbach resonance. When reducing the value of the tilt, we observe the disappearance of the quasiperiodic phase revival signature towards an irreversible decay of Bloch oscillations, indicating the transition from regular to quantum chaotic dynamics.

Observation of many-body long-range tunneling after a quantum quench

Tilting just right makes atoms tunnel One of the most fascinating phenomena in the quantum world is the ability of particles to go through an energy barrier — a process called quantum tunneling. Meinert et al. studied the dynamics of quantum tunneling in an optical lattice of strongly interacting atoms. When the lattice was suddenly tilted, the atoms, originally each in their own lattice site, tunneled to non-neighboring sites. Science, this issue p. 1259 The dynamics of ultracold atoms are observed as the optical lattice that houses them is suddenly tilted. Quantum tunneling is at the heart of many low-temperature phenomena. In strongly correlated lattice systems, tunneling is responsible for inducing effective interactions, and long-range tunneling substantially alters many-body properties in and out of equilibrium. We observe resonantly enhanced long-range quantum tunneling in one-dimensional Mott-insulating Hubbard chains that are suddenly quenched into a tilted configuration. Higher-order tunneling processes over up to five lattice sites are observed as resonances in the number of doubly occupied sites when the tilt per site is tuned to integer fractions of the Mott gap. This forms a basis for a controlled study of many-body dynamics driven by higher-order tunneling and demonstrates that when some degrees of freedom are frozen out, phenomena that are driven by small-amplitude tunneling terms can still be observed.

Bloch oscillations in the absence of a lattice

Detecting unusual oscillations Under the influence of a constant force, an electron in the periodic potential of a crystal lattice undergoes so-called Bloch oscillations. The same phenomenon has been seen with ultracold atoms in optical lattices, but it is not expected to occur in a uniform system. Meinert et al. observed Bloch oscillations of an impurity atom in one-dimensional tubes of strongly interacting cesium atoms—a system without built-in periodicity. Owing to the strong interactions, the bosonic atoms stayed away from one another, forming an effective lattice. The researchers observed reflections of the impurity atoms of this effective lattice in momentum space, with the lattice constant corresponding to the interatomic distance of the host gas. Science, this issue p. 945 Impurity atoms undergo oscillations in a one-dimensional quantum liquid of cesium atoms. The interplay of strong quantum correlations and far-from-equilibrium conditions can give rise to striking dynamical phenomena. We experimentally investigated the quantum motion of an impurity atom immersed in a strongly interacting one-dimensional Bose liquid and subject to an external force. We found that the momentum distribution of the impurity exhibits characteristic Bragg reflections at the edge of an emergent Brillouin zone. Although Bragg reflections are typically associated with lattice structures, in our strongly correlated quantum liquid they result from the interplay of short-range crystalline order and kinematic constraints on the many-body scattering processes in the one-dimensional system. As a consequence, the impurity exhibits periodic dynamics, reminiscent of Bloch oscillations, although the quantum liquid is translationally invariant. Our observations are supported by large-scale numerical simulations.

Observation of many-body dynamics in long-range tunneling after a quantum quench

Tilting just right makes atoms tunnel One of the most fascinating phenomena in the quantum world is the ability of particles to go through an energy barrier — a process called quantum tunneling. Meinert et al. studied the dynamics of quantum tunneling in an optical lattice of strongly interacting atoms. When the lattice was suddenly tilted, the atoms, originally each in their own lattice site, tunneled to non-neighboring sites. Science, this issue p. 1259 The dynamics of ultracold atoms are observed as the optical lattice that houses them is suddenly tilted. Quantum tunneling is at the heart of many low-temperature phenomena. In strongly correlated lattice systems, tunneling is responsible for inducing effective interactions, and long-range tunneling substantially alters many-body properties in and out of equilibrium. We observe resonantly enhanced long-range quantum tunneling in one-dimensional Mott-insulating Hubbard chains that are suddenly quenched into a tilted configuration. Higher-order tunneling processes over up to five lattice sites are observed as resonances in the number of doubly occupied sites when the tilt per site is tuned to integer fractions of the Mott gap. This forms a basis for a controlled study of many-body dynamics driven by higher-order tunneling and demonstrates that when some degrees of freedom are frozen out, phenomena that are driven by small-amplitude tunneling terms can still be observed.

Search for the electron electric dipole moment usingΩ-doublet levels in PbO

We present results of the first experiment to probe for the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron using an

Magnetic and Electric Dipole Moments of the \(H\ ^3\Delta_1\) State in ThO

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A new quantum gas apparatus for ultracold mixtures of K and Cs and KCs ground-state molecules

-doublet state in a polar molecule. If the molecule is both massive and has a large molecular-fixed frame dipole moment, then the

STIRAP preparation of a coherent superposition of ThO

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