Directly imaging spin polarons in a kinetically frustrated Hubbard system.

The emergence of quasiparticles in quantum many-body systems underlies the rich phenomenology in many strongly interacting materials. In the context of doped Mott insulators, magnetic polarons are quasiparticles that usually arise from an interplay between the kinetic energy of doped charge carriers and superexchange spin interactions. However, in kinetically frustrated lattices, itinerant spin polarons-bound states of a dopant and a spin flip-have been theoretically predicted even in the absence of superexchange coupling.

Two-Dimensional Programmable Tweezer Arrays of Fermions.

We prepare high-filling two-component arrays of tens of fermionic ^{6}Li atoms in optical tweezers, with the atoms in the ground motional state of each tweezer. Using a stroboscopic technique, we configure the arrays in various two-dimensional geometries with negligible Floquet heating. A full spin- and density-resolved readout of individual sites allows us to postselect near-zero entropy initial states for fermionic quantum simulation.