Quantum beat spectroscopy of repulsive Bose polarons

The physics of impurities in a bosonic quantum environment is a paradigmatic and challenging many-body problem. Here, this problem is investigated for impurities with strong repulsive interactions based on Ramsey interferometry in a quantum degenerate gas of K39 atoms. We observe revivals in the amplitude of the interferometric signal and identify them as beat signals between two coexisting quasiparticle branches, the attractive and repulsive polarons. The interferometric signal allows for an extraction of their energies for a wide range of interaction strengths, thus resolving outstanding discrepancies in earlier spectroscopic measurements. Furthermore, we identify several dynamical regimes in the formation of the repulsive Bose polaron. Our results improve the understanding of quantum impurities interacting strongly with a bosonic environment and show how short-lived nonequilibrium many-body states can be probed using quantum beat spectroscopy.