Quantum simulation of material-specific Hubbard models with alkaline-earth atoms

Abstract:A long-term goal of quantum simulation is to faithfully reproduce the low-energy Hamiltonians of correlated quantum materials, establishing a direct connection between solid-state experiment, electronic-structure theory, and programmable many-body systems. Here, we introduce an integrated quantum-simulation architecture based on fermionic alkaline-earth atoms that enables programmable control over the key ingredients of multi-orbital material Hamiltonians. Long-lived clock states encode synthetic orbitals, their differential polarizabilities generate orbital-selective tunneling, and contact interactions provide multi-orbital Hubbard and Hund couplings. Spatially structured coherent driving on the ultra-narrow clock transition further realizes symmetry-selective inter-orbital hybridization, while the clock detuning independently controls orbital energy offsets. In this way, the spatial symmetries of solid-state orbitals can be encoded directly into the effective Hamiltonian, even though the atoms themselves remain in conventional $s$-wave Wannier orbitals of the lowest optical-lattice bands. We demonstrate the resulting integrated control using the four-band low-energy Hamiltonian of the bilayer nickelate La$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ as a demanding benchmark. Self-consistent calculations show that the microscopic parameters obtained from first-principles modeling can be reproduced within a single experimentally accessible lattice configuration and independently programmed over substantial parameter ranges. Our results establish a general route for translating material-derived multi-orbital Hamiltonians into programmable ultracold-atom quantum simulators.

Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas); Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el); Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph); Quantum Physics (quant-ph)

arXiv:2610.10713 [cond-mat.quant-gas]

(or arXiv:2610.10713v1 [cond-mat.quant-gas] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2610.10713 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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