Quantum droplets of bosonic mixtures in a one-dimensional optical lattice

Abstract

We demonstrate the existence of quantum droplets in two-component one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard chains. The droplets exist for any strength of repulsive intra-species interactions provided they are balanced by comparable attractive inter-species interactions. The ground-state phase diagram is presented and the different phases are characterized by examining the density profile and off-diagonal one- and two-body correlation functions. A rich variety of phases is found, including atomic superfluid gases, atomic superfluid droplets, pair superfluid droplets, pair superfluid gases and a Mott-insulator phase. A parameter region prone to be experimentally explored is identified, where the average population per site is lower than three atoms, thus avoiding three-body losses. Finally, the bipartite entanglement of the droplets is found to have a non-trivial dependence on the number of particles.