Bosons In Optical Lattice Research Articles

Ground-state and dynamical properties of hard-core bosons in one-dimensional incommensurate optical lattices with a harmonic trap

We study properties of the strongly repulsive Bose gas on one-dimensional incommensurate optical lattices with a harmonic trap, which can be dealt with by use of an exact numerical method through Bose-Fermi mapping. We first exploit the phase transition of hard-core bosons in optical lattices from the superfluid to the Bose-glass phase as the strength of the incommensurate potential increases. Then we study the dynamical properties of the system after suddenly switching off the harmonic trap. We calculate the one-particle density matrices, the momentum distributions, and the natural orbitals and their occupations for both the static and dynamic systems. Our results indicate that the Bose-glass and superfluid phases display quite different properties and expansion dynamics.

Erratum: Quantum states ofp-band bosons in optical lattices [Phys. Rev. A81, 023605 (2010)

Received 23 February 2010DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.81.039905©2010 American Physical Society

Quantum states ofp-band bosons in optical lattices

We study a gas of repulsively interacting bosons in the first excited band of an optical lattice. We explore this p-band physics both within the framework of a standard mean-field theory as well as with the more accurate generalized Gutzwiller ansatz. We find the phase diagrams for two- and three-dimensional systems and characterize the first Mott-states in detail. Furthermore, we find that even though the p-band model has strongly anisotropic kinetic energies and inter-flavor interaction terms are missing in the lowest band theory, the mean-field theory becomes useful quite rapidly once the transition from the Mott-insulator to the superfluid is crossed.

Energy spectrum and superfluidity of spin-2 ultracold bosons in optical lattices

This paper studies the superfluidity of ultracold spin-2 Bose atoms with weak interactions in optical lattices by calculating the excitation energy spectrum using the Bogoliubov approach. The energy spectra exhibit the characteristics of the superfluid-phase explicitly and it finds the nonvanishing critical speeds of superfluid. The obtained results display that the critical speeds of superfluid are different for five spin components and can be controlled by adjusting the lattice parameters in experiments. Finally it discusses the feasibilities of implementing and measuring superfluid.

Stability of Superfluid and Supersolid Phases of Dipolar Bosons in Optical Lattices

We perform a stability analysis of superfluid (SF) and supersolid (SS) phases of polarized dipolar bosons in two-dimensional optical lattices at high filling factors and zero temperature, and obtain the phase boundaries between SF, checkerboard SS (CSS), striped SS (SSS), and collapse. We show that the phase diagram can be explored through the application of an external field and the tuning of its direction with respect to the optical lattice plane. In particular, we find a transition between the CSS and SSS phases.

Bragg Spectroscopy of Strongly Correlated Bosons in Optical Lattices

Using inelastic scattering of light (Bragg spectroscopy), we study the low-energy excitations of strongly correlated phases of ultracold bosons on the cross-over from correlated 1D superfluids to Mott insulators. As it is commonly performed in solid-state physics, the use of such a probe allows us to extract important information about the atomic many-body state. In particular we show that we can extract information about the dynamical structure factor S(q,ω) and about the one-particle spectral function A(q,ω) from the Bragg spectra. This technique could be extended to study more exotic correlated phases of ultracold atoms.

Thermal effects in light scattering from ultracold bosons in an optical lattice

We study the scattering of a weak and far-detuned light from a system of ultracold bosons in one-dimensional and three-dimensional optical lattices. We show the connection between angular distributions of the scattered light and statistical properties of a Bose gas in a periodic potential. The angular patterns are determined by the Fourier transform of the second-order correlation function, and thus they can be used to retrieve information on particle number fluctuations and correlations. We consider superfluid and Mott-insulator phases of the Bose gas in a lattice and we analyze in detail how the scattering depends on the system dimensionality, temperature, and atom-atom interactions.

Finite-temperature theory of superfluid bosons in optical lattices

A practical finite-temperature theory is developed for the superfluid regime of a weakly interacting Bose gas in an optical lattice with additional harmonic confinement. We derive an extended Bose-Hubbard model that is valid for shallow lattices and when excited bands are occupied. Using the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov-Popov mean-field approach, and applying local-density and coarse-grained envelope approximations, we arrive at a theory that can be numerically implemented accurately and efficiently. We present results for a three-dimensional system, characterizing the importance of the features of the extended Bose-Hubbard model and compare against other theoretical results and show an improved agreement with experimental data.

Probing spin exchange interaction in two-species bosons in optical lattices by cavity-enhanced light scattering

We study the system that two-component atoms, which are confined in an off-resonance optical lattice, interact with two cavity modes. It has a rich phase diagram composed of many phases, such as anti-ferromagnetic, ferromagnetic, and the XY phases in Mott-insulating (MI) region with odd filling factor. These phases could be distinguished by analyzing the photon numbers with two methods, i.e. the semiclassical approximation and the quantized approach, depending on the intensity of the probe light.

Effective three-body interactions of neutral bosons in optical lattices

We show that there are effective three- and higher-body interactions generated by the two-body collisions of atoms confined in the lowest vibrational states of a three-dimensional (3D) optical lattice. The collapse and revival dynamics of approximate coherent states loaded into a lattice are a particularly sensitive probe of these higher-body interactions; the visibility of interference fringes depend on both two-, three- and higher-body energy scales, and these produce an initial dephasing that can help explain the surprisingly rapid decay of revivals seen in experiments. If inhomogeneities in the lattice system are sufficiently reduced, longer timescale partial and nearly full revivals will be visible. Using Feshbach resonances or control of the lattice potential it is possible to tune the effective higher-body interactions and simulate effective field theories in optical lattices.

State diagrams for harmonically trapped bosons in optical lattices

We use quantum Monte Carlo simulations to obtain zero-temperature state diagrams for strongly correlated lattice bosons in one and two dimensions under the influence of a harmonic confining potential. Since harmonic traps generate a coexistence of superfluid and Mott insulating domains, we use local quantities such as the quantum fluctuations of the density and a local compressibility to identify the phases present in the inhomogeneous density profiles. We emphasize the use of the "characteristic density" to produce a state diagram that is relevant to experimental optical lattice systems, regardless of the number of bosons or trap curvature and of the validity of the local-density approximation. We show that the critical value of U/t at which Mott insulating domains appear in the trap depends on the filling in the system, and it is in general greater than the value in the homogeneous system. Recent experimental results by Spielman et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 120402 (2008)] are analyzed in the context of our two-dimensional state diagram, and shown to exhibit a value for the critical point in good agreement with simulations. We also study the effects of finite, but low (T<t/2), temperatures. We find that in two dimensions they have little influence on our zero-temperature results, while their effect is more pronounced in one dimension.

Probing condensate order in deep optical lattices

We study interacting bosons in optical lattices in the weak-tunneling regime in systems that exhibit the coexistence of Mott-insulating and condensed phases. We discuss the nature of the condensed ground state in this regime and the validity of the mean-field treatment thereof. We suggest two experimental signatures of condensate order in the system. (1) We analyze the hyperfine configuration of the system and propose a set of experimental parameters for observing radio-frequency spectra that would demonstrate the existence of the condensed phase between Mott-insulating phases. We derive the structure of the signal from the condensate in a typical trapped system, taking into account Goldstone excitations, and discuss its evolution as a function of temperature. (2) We study matter-wave interference patterns displayed by the system upon release from all confining potentials. We show that as the density profiles evolve very differently for the Mott-insulating phase and the condensed phase, they can be distinguished from one another when the two phases coexist.

Probing correlated phases of bosons in optical lattices via trap squeezing

We theoretically analyze the response properties of ultracold bosons in optical lattices to the static variation of the trapping potential. We show that, upon an increase of such a potential (trap squeezing), the density variations in a central region, with linear size of ≲10 wavelengths, reflect that of the bulk system upon changing the chemical potential: hence measuring the density variations gives direct access to the bulk compressibility. When combined with standard time-of-flight measurements, this approach has the potential of unambiguously detecting the appearance of the most fundamental phases realized by bosons in optical lattices, with or without further external potentials: superfluid, Mott insulator, band insulator and Bose glass.

Quantum phase diagram of bosons in optical lattices

We work out two different analytical methods for calculating the boundary of the Mott-insulator--superfluid (MI-SF) quantum phase transition for scalar bosons in cubic optical lattices of arbitrary dimension at zero temperature which improve upon the seminal mean-field result. The first one is a variational method, which is inspired by variational perturbation theory, whereas the second one is based on the field-theoretic concept of effective potential. Within both analytical approaches we achieve a considerable improvement of the location of the MI-SF quantum phase transition for the first Mott lobe in excellent agreement with recent numerical results from quantum Monte Carlo simulations in two and three dimensions. Thus, our analytical results for the whole quantum phase diagram can be regarded as being essentially exact for all practical purposes.

Cooling ultracold bosons in optical lattices by spectral transform

It is shown theoretically how to directly obtain the energy distribution of a weakly interacting gas of bosons confined in an optical lattice in the tight-binding limit. This is accomplished by adding a linear potential to a suitably prepared lattice, and allowing the gas to evolve under the influence of the total potential. After a prescribed time, a spectral transform is effected where each (highly nonlocal) energy state is transformed into a distinct site of the lattice, thus allowing the energy distribution to be (nondestructively) imaged in real space. Evolving for twice the time returns the atoms to their initial state. The results suggest efficient methods to both measure the temperature in situ, as well as to cool atoms within the lattice: after applying the spectral transform one simply needs to remove atoms from all but a few lattice sites. Using exact numerical calculations, the effects of interactions and errors in the application of the lattice are examined.

Ultracold dipolar gas in an optical lattice: The fate of metastable states

We study the physics of ultracold dipolar bosons in optical lattices. We show that dipole-dipole interactions lead to the appearance of many insulating metastable states. We study the stability and lifetime of these states using a generalization of the instanton theory. We investigate also possibilities to prepare, control and manipulate these states using time dependent superlattice modifications and modulations. We show that the transfer from one metastable configuration to another necessarily occurs via superfluid states, but can be controlled fully on the quantum level. We show how the metastable states can be created in the presence of the harmonic trap. Our findings open the way toward applications of the metastable states as quantum memories.

Mott-Hubbard transition of bosons in optical lattices with three-body interactions

In this paper, the quantum phase transition between the superfluid state and the Mott-insulator state is studied based on an extended Bose-Hubbard model with two- and three-body on-site interactions. By employing the mean-field approximation we find the extension of the insulating ``lobes'' and the existence of a fixed point in three-dimensional phase space. We investigate the link between experimental parameters and theoretical variables. The possibility to observe our results through some experimental effects in optically trapped Bose-Einstein condensates is also discussed.

Spectral weight redistribution in strongly correlated bosons in optical lattices

We calculate the single-particle spectral function for the one-band Bose-Hubbard model within the random-phase approximation (RPA). In the strongly correlated superfluid, in addition to the gapless phonon excitations, we find extra gapped modes, which become particularly relevant near the superfluid-Mott quantum phase transition (QPT). The strength in one of the gapped modes, a precursor of the Mott phase, grows as the QPT is approached and evolves into a hole (particle) excitation in the Mott insulator depending on whether the chemical potential $\ensuremath{\mu}$ is above (below) the tip of the lobe. The sound velocity $c$ of the Goldstone modes remains finite when the transition is approached at constant density; otherwise, it vanishes at the transition. It agrees well with Bogoliubov theory except close to the transition. We also calculate the spatial correlations for bosons in an inhomogeneous trapping potential creating alternating shells of Mott insulator and superfluid. Finally, we discuss the capability of the RPA to correctly account for quantum fluctuations in the vicinity of the QPT.

Mixtures of Strongly Interacting Bosons in Optical Lattices

We investigate the properties of strongly interacting heteronuclear boson-boson mixtures loaded in realistic optical lattices, with particular emphasis on the physics of interfaces. In particular, we numerically reproduce the recent experimental observation that the addition of a small fraction of 41K induces a significant loss of coherence in 87Rb, providing a simple explanation. We then investigate the robustness against the inhomogeneity typical of realistic experimental realizations of the glassy quantum emulsions recently predicted to occur in strongly interacting boson-boson mixtures on ideal homogeneous lattices.

Sharp peaks in the momentum distribution of bosons in optical lattices in the normal state

Cold atoms in optical lattices provide a unique laboratory for investigating quantum phase transitions between strongly correlated superfluid and Mott insulator phases1,2. One of the major bottlenecks in the analysis of experiments is a clear set of criteria for identifying the superfluid phase3. A ‘sharp’ interference pattern in time-of-flight experiments has been widely adopted as a signature of superfluidity4,5,6,7,8. Here, we show that sharp peaks are not a reliable diagnostic of superfluidity. Using large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the Bose–Hubbard model in three dimensions with up to N=1.4×104 particles, we calculate the momentum distribution n(k) as a function of temperature T and t/U, the ratio of hopping to the onsite repulsion. We find that even above the transition temperature Tc where both superfluid density and condensate fraction vanish, the interference pattern can nevertheless have sharp peaks riding over a broad background. We identify the true signature of the superfluid and give a deeper understanding of why such sharp peaks appear in the normal state.