Static impurities in a supersolid of interacting hard-core bosons on a triangular lattice

Abstract

We study the effect of impurities in a supersolid phase in comparison to the behavior in the solid and superfluid phases. A supersolid phase has been established for interacting hardcore bosons on a triangular lattice which may be realizable by ultracold atomic gases. Static vacancies are considered in this model which always lower the magnitude of the order parameter in the solid or superfluid phases. In the supersolid phase, however, the impurities directly affect both order parameters simultaneously and thereby reveal an interesting interplay between them. In particular the solid order may be enhanced at the cost of a strong reduction of the superfluidity, which shows that the two order parameters cannot be in a simple superposition. We also observe an unusual impurity pinning effect in the solid ordered phase, which results in two distinct states separated by a first-order transition.