title: QUANTUM GASES. Observation of many-body localization of interacting fermions in a quasirandom optical lattice.
abstract: Many-body localization (MBL), the disorder-induced localization of interacting particles, signals a breakdown of conventional thermodynamics because MBL systems do not thermalize and show nonergodic time evolution. We experimentally observed this nonergodic evolution for interacting fermions in a one-dimensional quasirandom optical lattice and identified the MBL transition through the relaxation dynamics of an initially prepared charge density wave. For sufficiently weak disorder, the time evolution appears ergodic and thermalizing, erasing all initial ordering, whereas above a critical disorder strength, a substantial portion of the initial ordering persists. The critical disorder value shows a distinctive dependence on the interaction strength, which is in agreement with numerical simulations. Our experiment paves the way to further detailed studies of MBL, such as in noncorrelated disorder or higher dimensions.
authors.affiliation: Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 Munich, Germany. Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schreiber
authors.affiliation: Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 Munich, Germany. Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Sean S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Hodgman
authors.affiliation: Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 Munich, Germany. Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Pranjal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bordia
authors.affiliation: Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 Munich, Germany. Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Henrik P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Lüschen
authors.affiliation: Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
authors.forename: Mark H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
authors.forename: Ronen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vosk
authors.affiliation: Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
authors.forename: Ehud
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Altman
authors.affiliation: Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 Munich, Germany. Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany. Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Schellingstrasse 4, 80799 Munich, Germany. Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany. imb@mpq.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Immanuel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bloch