Bosons In Lattices Research Articles

Momentum-resolved optical lattice modulation spectroscopy for bosons in optical lattices

We propose an experimental method of optical lattice modulation spectroscopy for studying the spectral function of ultracold bosons in an optical lattice. We show that different features of the single-particle spectral function in different quantum phases can be obtained by measuring the change in momentum distribution after the modulation. In the Mott phase, this gives information about the momentum-dependent gap to particle-hole excitations as well as their spectral weight. In the superfluid phase, one can obtain the spectrum of the gapless Bogoliubov quasiparticles as well as the gapped amplitude fluctuations. The distinct evolution of the response with modulation frequency in the two phases can be used to identify these phases and the quantum phase transition separating them.

Excitation spectra of bosons in optical lattices from the Schwinger-Keldysh calculation

Within the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism we derive a Ginzburg-Landau theory for the Bose-Hubbard model which describes the real-time dynamics of the complex order parameter field. Analyzing the excitations in the vicinity of the quantum phase transition it turns out that particle/hole dispersions in the Mott phase map continuously onto corresponding amplitude/phase excitations in the superfluid phase, which have been detected recently by Bragg spectroscopy measurements.

Entropy of Isolated Quantum Systems after a Quench

A diagonal entropy, which depends only on the diagonal elements of the system's density matrix in the energy representation, has been recently introduced as the proper definition of thermodynamic entropy in out-of-equilibrium quantum systems. We study this quantity after an interaction quench in lattice hard-core bosons and spinless fermions, and after a local chemical potential quench in a system of hard-core bosons in a superlattice potential. The former systems have a chaotic regime, where the diagonal entropy becomes equivalent to the equilibrium microcanonical entropy, coinciding with the onset of thermalization. The latter system is integrable. We show that its diagonal entropy is additive and different from the entropy of a generalized Gibbs ensemble, which has been introduced to account for the effects of conserved quantities at integrability.

Dynamical mean-field theory for bosons

We discuss the recently developed bosonic dynamical mean-field theory (B-DMFT) framework, which maps a bosonic lattice model onto the self-consistent solution of a bosonic impurity model with coupling to a reservoir of normal and condensed bosons. The effective impurity action is derived in several ways: (i) as an approximation to the kinetic energy functional of the lattice problem, (ii) using a cavity approach and (iii) using an effective medium approach based on adding a one-loop correction to the self-consistently defined condensate. To solve the impurity problem, we use a continuous-time Monte Carlo algorithm based on the sampling of a perturbation expansion in the hybridization functions and the condensate wave function. As applications of the formalism, we present finite-temperature B-DMFT phase diagrams for the bosonic Hubbard model on a three-dimensional (3D) cubic and a 2D square lattice, the condensate order parameter as a function of chemical potential, critical exponents for the condensate, the approach to the weakly interacting Bose gas regime for weak repulsions and the kinetic energy as a function of temperature.

Bose-Einstein condensation in the infinitely ramified star and wheel graphs

In this work, we provide exact solutions for the ideal boson lattice gas on the infinitely ramified star and wheel graphs. Within a tight-binding description, we show that Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) takes place at a finite temperature after a proper rescaling of the hoping integral ɛ connecting a central site to the peripheral ones. Analytical expressions for the transition temperature, the condensed gas fraction, and the specific heat are given for the star graph as a function of the density of particles n. In particular, the specific heat has a mean-field character, being null in the high-temperature noncondensed phase with a discontinuity at T(c). In the wheel graph, on which the peripheral sites form a closed chain with hopping integral t, BEC takes place only above a critical value of the ratio ɛ/t for which a gap ΔE appears between the ground state and a one-dimensional band. A detailed analysis of the BEC characteristics as a function of n and ΔE is provided. The specific heat in the high-temperature phase of the wheel graph remains finite due to correlations among the peripheral sites.

Effective action approach to thep-band Mott insulator and superfluid transition

Motivated by the recent experiment on $p$-orbital-band bosons in optical lattices, we study theoretically the quantum phases of Mott insulator and superfluidity in two dimensions. The system features a superfluid phase with transversely staggered orbital current at weak interaction and a Mott insulator phase with antiferro-orbital order at strong coupling and commensurate filling. We go beyond mean-field theory and derive from a microscopic model an effective action that is capable of describing both the $p$-band Mott insulating and superfluid phases in strong coupling. We further calculate the excitation spectra near the quantum critical point and find two gapless modes away from the tip of the Mott lobe but four gapless modes at the tip. Our effective theory reveals how the phase coherence peak builds up in the Mott regime when approaching the critical point. We also discuss the finite-temperature phase transition of $p$-band superfluidity.

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

In this paper, based on the Bose-Hubbard model with two-body on-site interactions, we study the quantum phase transition between the superfluid state and the Mott-insulator state. With the decoupling approximation, we get the relation between the weak superfluidity and dimensionless chemical potential with different particle number and different dimensionless interaction strength, and the relation between the weak superfluidity and the reciprocal of dimensionless interaction strength with different particle number. We also calculate the corresponding experimental parameters.

Detecting the Amplitude Mode of Strongly Interacting Lattice Bosons by Bragg Scattering

We report the first detection of the Higgs-type amplitude mode using Bragg spectroscopy in a strongly interacting condensate of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. By the comparison of our experimental data with a spatially resolved, time-dependent bosonic Gutzwiller calculation, we obtain good quantitative agreement. This allows for a clear identification of the amplitude mode, showing that it can be detected with full momentum resolution by going beyond the linear response regime. A systematic shift of the sound and amplitude modes' resonance frequencies due to the finite Bragg beam intensity is observed.

Pair Superfluidity of Three-Body Constrained Bosons in Two Dimensions

We examine the equilibrium properties of lattice bosons with attractive on-site interactions in the presence of a three-body hard-core constraint that stabilizes the system against collapse and gives rise to a dimer superfluid phase. Employing quantum Monte Carlo simulations, the ground state phase diagram of this system on the square lattice is analyzed. In particular, we study the quantum phase transition between the atomic and dimer superfluid regime and analyze the nature of the superfluid-insulator transitions. Evidence is provided for the existence of a tricritical point along the saturation transition line, where the transition changes from being first order to a continuous transition of the dilute Bose gas of holes. The Berzinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition from the dimer superfluid to the normal fluid is found to be consistent with an anomalous stiffness jump, as expected from the unbinding of half-vortices.

The ALPS project release 2.0: open source software for strongly correlated systems

We present release 2.0 of the ALPS (Algorithms and Libraries for Physics Simulations)project, an open source software project to develop libraries and application programs forthe simulation of strongly correlated quantum lattice models such as quantum magnets,lattice bosons, and strongly correlated fermion systems. The code development is centeredon common XML and HDF5 data formats, libraries to simplify and speed up codedevelopment, common evaluation and plotting tools, and simulation programs. Theprograms enable non-experts to start carrying out serial or parallel numerical simulationsby providing basic implementations of the important algorithms for quantum latticemodels: classical and quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) using non-local updates,extended ensemble simulations, exact and full diagonalization (ED), the densitymatrix renormalization group (DMRG) both in a static version and a dynamictime-evolving block decimation (TEBD) code, and quantum Monte Carlo solvers fordynamical mean field theory (DMFT). The ALPS libraries provide a powerfulframework for programmers to develop their own applications, which, for instance,greatly simplify the steps of porting a serial code onto a parallel, distributedmemory machine. Major changes in release 2.0 include the use of HDF5 for binarydata, evaluation tools in Python, support for the Windows operating system,the use of CMake as build system and binary installation packages for Mac OSX and Windows, and integration with the VisTrails workflow provenance tool.The software is available from our web server at http://alps.comp-phys.org/.

Dynamic Stimulation of Quantum Coherence in Systems of Lattice Bosons

Thermal fluctuations tend to destroy long-range phase correlations. Consequently, bosons in a lattice will undergo a transition from a phase-coherent superfluid as the temperature rises. Contrary to common intuition, however, we show that nonequilibrium driving can be used to reverse this thermal decoherence. This is possible because the energy distribution at equilibrium is rarely optimal for the manifestation of a given quantum property. We demonstrate this in the Bose-Hubbard model by calculating the nonequilibrium spatial correlation function with periodic driving. We show that the nonequilibrium phase boundary between coherent and incoherent states at finite bath temperatures can be made qualitatively identical to the familiar zero-temperature phase diagram, and we discuss the experimental manifestation of this phenomenon in cold atoms.

Quantum criticality in disordered bosonic optical lattices

Using the exact Bose-Fermi mapping, we study universal properties of ground-state density distributions and finite-temperature quantum critical behavior of one-dimensional hard-core bosons in trapped incommensurate optical lattices. Through the analysis of universal scaling relations in the quantum critical regime, we demonstrate that the superfluid to Bose glass transition and the general phase diagram of disordered hard-core bosons can be uniquely determined from finite-temperature density distributions of the trapped disordered system.

Gap solitons and Bloch waves of interacting bosons in one-dimensional optical lattices: From the weak- to the strong-interaction limits

We study the gap solitons and nonlinear Bloch waves of interacting bosons in one-dimensional optical lattices, taking into account the interaction from the weak to the strong limits. It is shown that composition relation between the gap solitons and nonlinear Bloch waves exists for the whole span of the interaction strength. The linear stability analysis indicates that the gap solitons are stable when their energies are near the bottom of the linear Bloch band gap. By increasing the interaction strength, the stable gap solitons can turn into unstable. It is argued that the stable gap solitons can easily be formed in a weakly interacting system with energies near the bottoms of the lower-level linear Bloch band gaps.

Linearized Tensor Renormalization Group Algorithm for the Calculation of Thermodynamic Properties of Quantum Lattice Models

A linearized tensor renormalization group algorithm is developed to calculate the thermodynamic properties of low-dimensional quantum lattice models. This new approach employs the infinite time-evolving block decimation technique, and allows for treating directly the transfer-matrix tensor network that makes it more scalable. To illustrate the performance, the thermodynamic quantities of the quantum XY spin chain as well as the Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a honeycomb lattice are calculated by the linearized tensor renormalization group method, showing the pronounced precision and high efficiency.

Quantized Pumping and Topology of the Phase Diagram for a System of Interacting Bosons

Interacting lattice bosons at integer filling can support two distinct insulating phases, which are separated by a critical point: the Mott insulator and the Haldane insulator [E. G. Dalla Torre, E. Berg, and E. Altman, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 260401 (2006).]. The critical point can be gapped out by breaking lattice inversion symmetry. Here, we show that encircling this critical point adiabatically pumps one boson across the system. When multiple chains are coupled, the two insulating phases are no longer sharply distinct, but the pumping property survives. This leads to strict constraints on the topology of the phase diagram of systems of quasi-one-dimensional interacting bosons.

Field-Induced Phase Transitions of Repulsive Spin-1 Bosons in Optical Lattices

We study the phase diagram of repulsively interacting spin-1 bosons in optical lattices at unit filling, showing that an externally induced quadratic Zeeman effect may lead to a rich physics characterized by various phases and phase transitions. We find that the main properties of the system may be described by an effective field model, which provides the precise location of the phase boundaries for any dimension, in excellent agreement with our numerical calculations for one-dimensional (1D) systems. Thus, our work provides a quantitative guide for the experimental analysis of various types of field-induced quantum phase transitions in spin-1 lattice bosons. These transitions, which are precluded in spin-1/2 systems, may be realized by using an externally modified quadratic Zeeman coupling, similar to recent experiments with spinor condensates in the continuum.

Scaling of noise correlations in one-dimensional-lattice–hard-core-boson systems

Noise correlations are studied for systems of hard-core bosons in one-dimensional lattices. We use an exact numerical approach based on the Bose-Fermi mapping and properties of Slater determinants. We focus on the scaling of the noise correlations with system size in superfluid and insulating phases, which are generated in the homogeneous lattice, with period-two superlattices and with uniformly distributed random diagonal disorder. For the superfluid phases, the leading contribution is shown to exhibit a density-independent scaling proportional to the system size, while the first subleading term exhibits a density-dependent power-law exponent.

Supersolid phases of dipolar bosons in optical lattices with a staggered flux

We present the theoretical mean-field zero-temperature phase diagram of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with dipolar interactions loaded into an optical lattice with a staggered flux. Apart from uniform superfluid, checkerboard supersolid and striped supersolid phases, we identify several supersolid phases with staggered vortices, which can be seen as combinations of supersolid phases found in earlier work on dipolar BECs and a staggered-vortex phase found for bosons in optical lattices with staggered flux. By allowing for different phases and densities on each of the four sites of the elementary plaquette, more complex phase patterns are found.

Dynamical instability and loss ofp-band bosons in optical lattices

We study how the bosonic atoms on the excited p-band of an optical lattice are coupled to the lowest s-band and the 2nd excited d-band. We find that in some parameter regimes the atom-atom interactions can cause a dynamical instability of the p-band atoms towards decay to the s- and d-bands. Furthermore, even when dynamical instability is not expected s- and d-bands can become substantially populated.

Inelastic light scattering to probe strongly correlated bosons in optical lattices

We have used inelastic light scattering to study correlated phases of an array of one-dimensional interacting Bose gases. In the linear response regime, the observed spectra are proportional to the dynamic structure factor. In particular we have investigated the superfluid to Mott insulator crossover loading the one-dimensional gases in an optical lattice and monitoring the appearance of an energy gap due to finite particle-hole excitation energy. We attribute the low frequency side of the spectra to the presence of some superfluid and normal phase fraction between the Mott insulator regions with different fillings produced in the inhomogeneous systems. In the Mott phase we also investigated excitations to higher excited bands of the optical lattice, the spectra obtained in this case being connected to the single particle spectral function. In one-dimensional systems the effect of thermal fluctuations and interactions is enhanced by the reduced dimensionality showing up in the dynamic structure factor. We measured the dynamic structure factor of an array of one-dimensional bosonic gases pointing out the effect of temperature-induced phase fluctuations in reducing the coherence length of the system.