Quantum-gas microscopy and Talbot interferometry of the Bose-glass phase

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Koehn, Lennart and Parsonage, Christopher and Duncan, Callum W. and Kirton, Peter and Daley, Andrew J. and Hilker, Timon and Haller, Elmar and La Rooij, Arthur and Kuhr, Stefan (2026) Quantum-gas microscopy and Talbot interferometry of the Bose-glass phase. Physical Review A. ISSN 2469-9926 (In Press) (https://doi.org/10.1103/xb42-j6px)

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Abstract

Disordered potentials fundamentally affect transport and coherence in quantum systems, giving rise to a Bose-glass phase in interacting bosonic systems - an insulating yet compressible phase lacking long-range coherence. Directly measuring a reduced coherence length of the Bose glass has been a outstanding challenge. We address this by employing Talbot interferometry combined with single-atom-resolved detection in a quantum-gas microscope. Using ultracold bosonic atoms in a two-dimensional lattice with site-resolved, reproducible disorder, we identify the Bose-glass phase through in-situ density distributions and particle-number fluctuations, quantified via the Edwards-Anderson parameter, and through the visibility of interference patterns after time-of-flight. By driving the system across the Bose-glass phase, we further observe signatures of non-ergodic dynamics. Our studies provide a starting point to further explore disordered systems in and out of equilibrium, and are relevant for understanding the dynamics and stability of disordered and glass-like quantum states in solid-state systems.

ORCID iDs

Koehn, Lennart, Parsonage, Christopher, Duncan, Callum W. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3625-9842, Kirton, Peter ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3915-1098, Daley, Andrew J. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9005-7761, Hilker, Timon ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1012-5750, Haller, Elmar ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7951-1721, La Rooij, Arthur ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6166-1326 and Kuhr, Stefan ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8386-5357;
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