Quantum gas microscopy with spin, atom-number, and multilayer readout

Atom-and site-resolved experiments with ultracold atoms in optical lattices provide a powerful platform for the simulation of strongly correlated materials. In this Rapid Communication, we present a toolbox for the preparation, control, and site-resolved detection of a tunnel-coupled bilayer degenerate quantum gas. Using a collisional blockade, we engineer occupation-dependent interplane transport which enables us to circumvent light-assisted pair loss during imaging and count n = 0 to n = 3 atoms per site. We obtain the first number-and site-resolved images of the Mott insulator wedding cake structure and observe the emergence of antiferromagnetic ordering across a magnetic quantum phase transition. We are further able to employ the bilayer system for spin-resolved readout of a mixture of two hyperfine states. This work opens the door to direct detection of entanglement and Kosterlitz-Thouless-type phase dynamics, as well as studies of coupled planar quantum materials.