Colder than ultracold: Advances on the temperature frontier in Hubbard quantum simulations

The Hubbard model is central to our understanding of strongly correlated matter and is predicted to host many exotic quantum states in regimes exceedingly challenging for theoretical and numerical studies. Ultracold atoms in optical lattices provide a pristine realization of the Hubbard model, but so far, temperatures have been too high to reach truly low-temperature phases. We report on recent breakthroughs that enable us to achieve significantly lower temperatures. With programmable lattice potentials, we implement new schemes for adiabatic state preparation and entropy redistribution. With lower temperatures, our quantum simulator is poised to explore low-temperature phases in regimes where unbiased numerical simulations are challenging and will ultimately help elucidate the nature of highly debated phenomena observed in the doped cuprates such as pseudogap, striped phases, and d-wave superconductivity.