title: Experimental realization of plaquette resonating valence-bond states with ultracold atoms in optical superlattices.
abstract: The concept of valence-bond resonance plays a fundamental role in the theory of the chemical bond and is believed to lie at the heart of many-body quantum physical phenomena. Here we show direct experimental evidence of a time-resolved valence-bond quantum resonance with ultracold bosonic atoms in an optical lattice. By means of a superlattice structure we create a three-dimensional array of independent four-site plaquettes, which we can fully control and manipulate in parallel. Moreover, we show how small-scale plaquette resonating valence-bond (RVB) states with s- and d-wave symmetry can be created and characterized. We anticipate our findings to open the path towards the creation and analysis of many-body RVB states in ultracold atomic gases.
authors.affiliation: Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 München, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nascimbène
authors.forename: Y-A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Atala
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aidelsburger
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Trotzky
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Paredes
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bloch