Optical lattices populated with atoms that hop from site to site can be used to explore non-equilibrium many-body phenomena. Typically, the atoms in such systems interact only if they occupy the same lattice site, limiting the range of physics that can be addressed. Guardado-Sanchez et al. engineered longer-range interactions between lithium atoms in a two-dimensional optical lattice by shining ultraviolet laser light along one of the axes. This resulted in an effective interaction between nearest-neighbor atoms and simultaneously suppressed hopping along the direction perpendicular to the laser beam. The researchers then initialized the system in a charge-density wave state and monitored its dynamics, finding that increasing interactions caused the system to retain the memory of its initial state longer.
Phys. Rev. X 11, 021036 (2021).
