Ultracold bosons in zig-zag optical lattices

Abstract

Ultra-cold bosons in zig-zag optical lattices present a rich physics due to the interplay between frustration, induced by lattice geometry, two-body interaction and three-body constraint. Unconstrained bosons may develop chiral superfluidity and a Mott-insulator even at vanishingly small interactions. Bosons with a three-body constraint allow for a Haldane-insulator phase in non-polar gases, as well as pair-superfluidity and density wave phases for attractive interactions. These phases may be created and detected within the current state of the art techniques.