Strongly interacting phases of matter with artificial gauge fields in optical lattices

One of the cornerstone directions where current analog quantum simulation platforms are particularly advantageous is the simulation of topological many-body phases. In an ultracold atom context, such systems can be emulated for example by breaking time-reversal symmetry through an artificial magnetic field. Combining this with strong interactions gives rise to exotic many-body physics such as the Fractional Quantum Hall effect. However, so far their large-scale quantum simulation remained challenging with experimental realizations being limited to a few interacting particles.

Here, we experimentally prepare many-body phases with up to 40 interacting particles on two-leg ladders in the presence of a strong artificial magnetic field. We characterize the ground states of the system by measuring particle currents with local resolution, revealing interesting current patterns. Our results pave the way to study the physics of topological many-body phases such as Fractional Quantum Hall states in extended systems.