Probing the many-body localization phase transition with superconducting circuits

Abstract

Chains of superconducting devices provide a natural platform for exploration of synthetic bosonic quantum matter, and the possibility to tune parametric disorder $i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n$ $s\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}u$ makes them an ideal framework for the study of localization physics in particular. Here, the authors demonstrate that by tuning disorder strength via external magnetic field, one can probe both ergodic and many-body localized phases in a disordered bosonic Hubbard model. Simulations of time evolution suggest that coherence times of currently available devices are sufficiently long to distinguish between the two phases using the temporal fluctuations of local occupations.