A compact fast-cycling quantum gas microscope to study strongly-interacting fermions

Understanding strongly-interacting degenerate quantum matter is of great interest in modern experimental physics. The behavior of a wide variety of materials which hold enormous potential to revolutionize technology – such as high-T_c superconductors, colossal magnetoresistive materials, and graphene – depends fundamentally on interactions between degenerate electrons. However, the development of these technologies is currently hindered by our limited understanding of the underlying physics of interacting fermions. Here, we present progress towards a highly-compact fermi gas microscope based on lithium-6 atoms, well-poised to study quantum effects from few to many interacting particles. Recent advances in single-atom control with optical tweezers, engineering interactions with superlattices, and implementing tunable geometries allow for the study of new regimes of strongly-correlated fermions. Our system will achieve fast cycle times through rapid laser cooling in a hybrid optical lattice + tweezer platform. It will enable the exploration of exchange statistics, models of strongly-interacting fermions, and novel schemes of quantum information processing.