Stabilizing an Ultracold Fermi Gas against Fermi Acceleration to Superdiffusion through Localization
Anderson localization, i.e., destructive quantum interference of multiple-scattering paths, halts transport entirely. Contrarily, time-dependent random forces expedite transport via Fermi acceleration, proposed as a mechanism for high-energy cosmic rays. Their competition creates interesting dynamics, but experimental observations are scarce. Here, we experimentally study the expansion of an ultracold Fermi gas inside time-dependent disorder and observe distinct regimes from sub- to superdiffusion. Unexpectedly, quantum interference counteracts acceleration in strong disorder before a transition to a diffusive state occurs in the driven system. Our system enables the investigation of Fermi acceleration in the quantum-transport regime.
Authors
- Maximilian Kiefer-Emmanouilidis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-7065-3511)
- Artur Widera (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0338-9969)
- Jennifer Koch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-2992-3645)
- Felix Lang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1557-6146)
- Karl J. Friston
Institutions
- University of Koblenz and Landau (DE)
- German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DE)
- Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2025-05-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/rq4w-377l
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.49
Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz