Juggling with single atoms to understand quantum matter
Prof. Dr. Selim Jochim (Physikalisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg)

While all matter is at a microscopic level governed by quantum physics, there are also materials that show quantum effects at a macroscopic scale. Such "quantum matter" exhibits for example superfluidity or superconductivity. Materials that exhibit such phenomena in a very robust way or at very high temperatures, are typically characterized by strong interactions and correlations. Therefore experimentally verifying the role of correlations and engtanglement is a promising route to gain a deeper understanding of such systems. Using spin resolved imaging of individual atoms in free space we measure both the position and momentum distributions of a system of two particles deterministically prepared in a double well. These measurements allow us to determine correlations and entanglement of the motional degree of freedom. We envisage to apply these newly acquired tools to our experiments with strongly correlated Fermi gases where we will use up to 100 particles, determining high-order correlation functions.