Emergence of tunable periodic density correlations in a Floquet–Bloch system

Abstract

In quantum gases, two-body interactions are responsible for a variety of instabilities that depend on the characteristics of both trapping and interactions. These instabilities can lead to the appearance of new structures or patterns. We report on the Floquet engineering of such a parametric instability, on a Bose-Einstein condensate held in a time-modulated optical lattice. The modulation triggers a destabilization of the condensate into a state exhibiting a density modulation with a new spatial periodicity. This new crystal-like order, which shares characteristic correlation properties with a supersolid, directly depends on the modulation parameters: The interplay between the Floquet spectrum and interactions generates narrow and adjustable instability regions, leading to the growth, from quantum or thermal fluctuations, of modes with a density modulation noncommensurate with the lattice spacing. This study demonstrates the production of metastable exotic states of matter through Floquet engineering and paves the way for further studies of dissipation in the resulting phase and of similar phenomena in other geometries.