Mott Insulator Phase Research Articles

Influence of Coulomb disorder on the phase diagrams of the Anderson-Hubbard model

We study the half-filled Hubbard model with Anderson and Coulomb disorder by mean of dynamical mean field theory using the geometrically averaged local density of states. The paramagnetic phase diagram of the model as a function of the Coulomb interaction and Anderson disorder strength is obtained. The spectral phase diagrams of the ground states for the model are also constructed and discussed. We show that in the intermediate and strong interaction regimes, the Coulomb disorder leads the metallic and Mott insulator phase regions shrink, while the Anderson insulator region is enlarged.

Circuit complexity near critical points

We consider the Bose–Hubbard model in two and three spatial dimensions and numerically compute the quantum circuit complexity of the ground state in the Mott insulator and superfluid phases using a mean field approximation with additional quadratic fluctuations. After mapping to a qubit system, the result is given by the complexity associated with a Bogoliubov transformation applied to the reference state taken to be the mean field ground state. In particular, the complexity has peaks at the O(2) critical points where the system can be described by a relativistic quantum field theory. Given that we use a Gaussian approximation, near criticality the numerical results agree with a free field theory calculation. To go beyond the Gaussian approximation we use general scaling arguments that imply that, as we approach the critical point t → t c, there is a non-analytic behavior in the complexity c 2(t) of the form |c 2(t) − c 2(t c)| ∼ |t − t c| νd , up to possible logarithmic corrections. Here d is the number of spatial dimensions and ν is the usual critical exponent for the correlation length ξ ∼ |t − t c|−ν . As a check, for d = 2 this agrees with the numerical computation if we use the Gaussian critical exponent . Finally, using AdS/CFT methods, we study higher dimensional examples and confirm this scaling argument with non-Gaussian exponent ν for strongly interacting theories that have a gravity dual.

Nonlocal Correlation and Entanglement of Ultracold Bosons in the 2D Bose–Hubbard Lattice at Finite Temperature

AbstractThe temperature‐dependent behavior emerging in the vicinity of the superfluid (SF) to Mott‐insulator (MI) transition of interacting bosons in a 2D optical lattice, described by the Bose–Hubbard model is investigated. The equilibrium phase diagram at finite‐temperature is computed using the cluster mean‐field (CMF) theory including a finite‐cluster‐size‐scaling. The SF, MI, and normal fluid (NF) phases are characterized as well as the transition or crossover temperatures between them are estimated by computing physical quantities such as the superfluid fraction, compressibility and sound velocity using the CMF method. It is found that the nonlocal correlations included in a finite cluster, when extrapolated to infinite size, leads to quantitative agreement of the phase boundaries with quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) results as well as with experiments. Moreover, it is shown that the von Neumann entanglement entropy within a cluster corresponds to the system's entropy density and that it is enhanced near the SF–MI quantum critical point (QCP) and at the SF–NF boundary. The behavior of the transition lines near this QCP, at and away from the particle‐hole (p–h) symmetric point located at the Mott‐tip, is also discussed. The results obtained by using the CMF theory can be tested experimentally using the quantum gas microscopy method.

Quantum phases of two-dimensional Z2 gauge theory coupled to single-component fermion matter

We investigate the rich quantum phase diagram of Wegner's theory of discrete Ising gauge fields interacting with $U(1)$ symmetric single-component fermion matter hopping on a two-dimensional square lattice. In particular limits the model reduces to (i) pure $\mathbb{Z}_2$ even and odd gauge theories, (ii) free fermions in a static background of deconfined $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge fields, (iii) the kinetic Rokhsar-Kivelson quantum dimer model at a generic dimer filling. We develop a local transformation that maps the lattice gauge theory onto a model of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge-invariant spin $1/2$ degrees of freedom. Using the mapping, we perform numerical density matrix renormalization group calculations that corroborate our understanding of the limits identified above. Moreover, in the absence of the magnetic plaquette term, we reveal signatures of topologically ordered Dirac semimetal and staggered Mott insulator phases at half-filling. At strong coupling, the lattice gauge theory displays fracton phenomenology with isolated fermions being completely frozen and dimers exhibiting restricted mobility. In that limit, we predict that in the ground state dimers form compact clusters, whose hopping is suppressed exponentially in their size. We determine the band structure of the smallest clusters numerically using exact diagonalization. The rich phenomenology discussed in this paper can be probed in analog and digital quantum simulators of discrete gauge theories and in Kitaev spin-orbital liquids.

Correlation-induced d -wave pairing in a quantum dot square lattice

We consider an electrostatically induced square lattice of quantum dots and study the role of electron-electron correlations in the resulting electronic features of the system. We utilize the Wannier functions methodology in order to construct Hamiltonian for interacting fermions and find that the change of the depth of the quantum dot confining potential results in a transition from a moderately-, to strong-correlated regime of the system. We obtain the approximate ground state by means of Variational Monte-Carlo method for a wide range of dopings. The values of microscopic parameters, charge gap as well as spin- and pair-correlation functions obtained in the strongly-correlated regime signify the presence of antiferromagnetic spin-ordering and the realization of the Mott insulator phase. Moreover, we report on a two dome structure of the emerging $d$-wave paired state residing on both sides of the half filled case. The obtained results are discussed in view of the well known families of unconventional superconducting materials such as copper based compounds.

Ultrafast control of electronic states by a terahertz electric field pulse in the quasi-one-dimensional organic ferroelectric (TMTTF)2PF6

A strong terahertz pulse is effective for controlling the macroscopic polarization in ferroelectrics. In the present study, we investigated the response of an organic molecular compound, namely ${(\mathrm{TMTTF})}_{2}\mathrm{P}{\mathrm{F}}_{6}$ (TMTTF: tetramethyltetrathiafulvalene), to a strong electric field using terahertz pulse-pump optical-reflectivity probe spectroscopy. This compound undergoes a transition from Mott insulator to charge-order insulator with lowering temperature, and exhibits electronic ferroelectricity in the charge-order phase. When the terahertz pulse is applied in the Mott-insulator phase, an ultrafast reflectivity change proportional to the square of the electric field waveform of the terahertz pulse emerges, which is attributed to the generation of charge disproportionation in each dimer and the resultant creation of macroscopic polarization. When the terahertz pulse is applied in the charge-order phase, an ultrafast reflectivity change proportional to the electric field waveform of the terahertz pulse is observed, which originates from the modulation of the original charge disproportionation and polarization. These ultrafast reflectivity changes can be ascribed to purely electronic responses. In the midinfrared region, where totally symmetric $({a}_{\mathrm{g}})$ modes of intramolecular vibrations coupled with intermolecular charge transfers exist, a large reflectivity change is commonly observed in the Mott-insulator and charge-order phases. To interpret this feature, we constructed a model that incorporates a charge-transfer transition and ${a}_{g}$-mode intramolecular vibrations. The analyses of the results with this model revealed that the change in the reflectivity spectrum by the terahertz electric field can be explained by the energy shift of the charge-transfer transition caused by the electric field-induced change of charge disproportionation in each dimer, and the transfer of the spectral weight from the intradimer charge-transfer (CT) transition to the interdimer CT transition resulting from the weakening of the dimerization. Our model can be used to analyze the optical responses to electric fields in various organic molecular compounds with electron-intramolecular vibration couplings.

Strongly interacting two-component coupled Bose gas in optical lattices

Two-component coupled Bose gas in a 1D optical lattice is examined. In addition to the postulated Mott insulator and superfluid phases, multiple bosonic components manifest spin degrees of freedom. Coupling of the components in the Bose gas leads to substantial changes in the previously observed spin phases, giving rise to a new effective spin Hamiltonian and unraveling remarkable spin correlations. The system in the absence of coupling exhibits ferromagnetic and nonferromagnetic spin phases for on-site intracomponent interaction stronger than intercomponent interaction. Upon introduction of coupling, the phase transition switches from first to second order. For comparable on-site inter- and intracomponent interactions, with coupling, instead of one, two spin phases emerge with a second-order phase transition. Exact diagonalization and variational Monte Carlo with stochastic minimization on the entangled-plaquette state bestow a unique and enhanced perspective on the system beyond the scope of a mean-field treatment.

Simulating the Bose–Hubbard model with a one-dimensional cavity optomechanical system

We propose a scheme to simulate a one-dimensional Bose–Hubbard model with a coupled cavity optomechanical system. By eliminating the cavity field under the condition of large detuning, an effective Bose–Hubbard model can be achieved. By adiabatically adjusting the classical pumping, we show that the effective Hamiltonian can fully explain transitions from the Mott-insulating phase to the superfluid phase. In addition, we show that the system allows the quantum state transfer after including the dissipation of the oscillators.

Achieving fast high-fidelity optimal control of many-body quantum dynamics

We demonstrate the efficiency of a recent exact-gradient optimal control methodology by applying it to a challenging many-body problem, crossing the superfluid to Mott-insulator phase transition in the Bose-Hubbard model. The system size necessitates a matrix product state representation and this seamlessly integrates with the requirements of the algorithm. We observe fidelities in the range 0.99--0.9999 with associated minimal process duration estimates displaying an exponential fidelity-duration trade-off across several orders of magnitude. The corresponding optimal solutions are characterized in terms of a predominantly linear sweep across the critical point followed by bang-bang-like structure. This is quite different from the smooth and monotonic solutions identified by earlier gradient-free optimizations which are hampered in locating the higher complexity protocols in the regime of high fidelities at low process durations. Overall, the comparison suggests significant methodological improvements also for many-body systems in the ideal open-loop setting. Acknowledging that idealized open-loop control may deteriorate in actual experiments, we discuss the merits of using such an approach in combination with closed-loop control---in particular, high-fidelity physical insights extracted with the former can be used to formulate practical, low-dimensional search spaces for the latter.

Manipulating atom-number distributions and detecting spatial distributions in lattice-confined spinor gases

We present an experimental study demonstrating the manipulation of atom-number distributions of spinor gases after nonequilibrium quantum quenches across superfluid to Mott-insulator phase transitions in cubic optical lattices. Our data indicate that atom distributions in individual Mott lobes can be tuned by properly designing quantum quench sequences, which suggests methods of maximizing the fraction of atoms in Mott lobes of even occupation numbers and has applications in attaining different quantum magnetic phases including massively entangled states. Spatial distributions of gases in three-dimensional lattices are derived from the observed number distributions, which reveal complex spatial dynamics during the quantum quenches. Qualitative agreements are also found between our experimental data and numerical simulations based on time-dependent Gutzwiller approximations in two-dimensional systems.

Robust charge-density wave strengthened by electron correlations in monolayer 1T-TaSe2 and 1T-NbSe2

Combination of low-dimensionality and electron correlation is vital for exotic quantum phenomena such as the Mott-insulating phase and high-temperature superconductivity. Transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) 1T-TaS2 has evoked great interest owing to its unique nonmagnetic Mott-insulator nature coupled with a charge-density-wave (CDW). To functionalize such a complex phase, it is essential to enhance the CDW-Mott transition temperature TCDW-Mott, whereas this was difficult for bulk TMDs with TCDW-Mott < 200 K. Here we report a strong-coupling 2D CDW-Mott phase with a transition temperature onset of ~530 K in monolayer 1T-TaSe2. Furthermore, the electron correlation derived lower Hubbard band survives under external perturbations such as carrier doping and photoexcitation, in contrast to the bulk counterpart. The enhanced Mott-Hubbard and CDW gaps for monolayer TaSe2 compared to NbSe2, originating in the lattice distortion assisted by strengthened correlations and disappearance of interlayer hopping, suggest stabilization of a likely nonmagnetic CDW-Mott insulator phase well above the room temperature. The present result lays the foundation for realizing monolayer CDW-Mott insulator based devices operating at room temperature.

Quantum spin compass models in two-dimensional electronic topological metasurfaces

We consider a metasurface consisting of a square lattice of cylindrical antidots in a two-dimensional topological insulator (2DTI). Each antidot supports a degenerate Kramer's pair of eigenstates formed by the helical topological edge states. We show that the on-site Coulomb repulsion leads to the onset of the Mott insulator phase in the system in a certain range of experimentally relevant parameters. Intrinsic strong spin-orbit coupling characteristic for the 2DTI supports a rich class of the emerging low-energy spin Hamiltonians which can be emulated in the considered system, which makes it an appealing solid state platform for quantum simulations of strongly correlated electron systems.

Momentum-resolved conductivity of strongly interacting bosons in an optical lattice

Motivated by the recent advancements in experimental techniques in the cold atomic systems, we study the dependence of the conductivity on momentum in a system of strongly interacting bosons in an optical lattice. By employing the quantum rotor approach to the Bose-Hubbard model we calculate the current-current correlation function and subsequently obtain the analytic formula for the momentum-dependent longitudinal conductivity. We analyze the behavior of the conductivity for the square and cubic lattices in both, the superfluid and Mott insulator phases. As a consequence of the particle-hole symmetry, the conductivity for a uniformly filled lattice in the superfluid phase exhibits a linear dependence for a surprisingly wide range of momenta around $\mathbf{k}=0$. This allows us to predict the value of the group velocity of the particle excitations. We also consider the impact of finite temperature and discover that it leads to an additional conductivity channel, which is aligned along the direction of the probe field and located within the energy gap.

Spin liquid in twisted homobilayers of group-VI dichalcogenides

Twisted transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) homobilayers have recently emerged as a powerful platform for studying correlated insulating states. In the strongly correlated limit, we construct an effective spin Hamiltonian on a honeycomb lattice that includes the Heisenberg interaction and nonsymmetric interactions such as a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and a Kane-Mele coupling for the Mott-insulating phase at half-filling. For the twisted TMD homobilayers, the spin-orbit coupling in the Hubbard model, which is expected to induce the antisymmetric exchange couplings in the effective spin Hamiltonian, is a highly tunable and experimentally accessible quantity that can be tuned by an applied electric field. In this study, we investigate classical and quantum phase diagrams of the effective spin Hamiltonian using analytical and numerical methods. We show that the model exhibits a rich classical phase diagram including an antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase, a planar spiral ordered phase with high classical degeneracy, a $z$-AFM phase, a noncoplanar phase, a noncollinear phase, and a 120$^{\circ}$-AFM phase. In the quantum treatment, we calculate low-energy magnon excitation spectrum, ground state energy, and static spin structure factor using linear spin-wave theory and density matrix renormalization group methods to compose the quantum phase diagram of the effective spin Hamiltonian. Beyond the Heisenberg interaction, we find that the existence of these antisymmetric couplings is responsible for the quantum spin liquid, $z$-AFM, noncoplanar, and 120$^{\circ}$ phases. Twisted TMD homobilayers, therefore, offer rich platforms for realizing rich phases of matter such as quantum spin liquid, noncoplanar, and 120$^{\circ}$, resulting from the spin-orbit coupling.

Direct and ultrafast probing of quantum many-body interactions through coherent two-dimensional spectroscopy: From weak- to strong-interaction regimes

Interactions between particles in quantum many-body systems play a crucial role in determining the electric, magnetic, optical, and thermal properties of the system. The recent progress in the laser-pulse technique has enabled the manipulations and measurements of physical properties on ultrafast timescales. Here, we propose a method for the direct and ultrafast probing of quantum many-body interaction through coherent two-dimensional (2D) spectroscopy. Up to a moderate interaction strength, the inter-particle interaction manifests itself in the emergence of off-diagonal peaks in the 2D spectrum before all the peaks coalesce into a single diagonal peak as the system approaches the Mott-insulating phase in the strongly interacting regime. The evolution of the 2D spectrum as a function of the time delay between the second and third laser pulses can provide important information on the ultrafast time variation of the interaction.

Collective dipole oscillations in a bosonic ladder lattice with effective magnetic flux

In this work we study the model of flux lattice, specifically a two-leg Bose–Hubbard ladder lattice subject to effective magnetic flux, which can be implemented using spin–orbit coupled cold atoms trapped in an optical lattice. This model has attracted much recent research interest due to that it provides a platform to study the interplay between artificial gauge fields and interactions. We consider that collective dipole oscillations are activated in this model via quenching an external harmonic trapping potential and show that this system can exhibit unique dynamical behaviors in terms that oscillation amplitude and period critically dependent on the spin–orbit coupling. A dynamical slowing down in collective dipole oscillations will take place near the transition point between the Meissner superfuild and vortex superfluid phases, which agrees quantitatively with a variational analysis. We show that such a quantum phase transition can also be probed via the damping of the collective dipole oscillation. When the quenching displacement is large, the collective center-of-mass motion behaves as damped oscillation and the damping reaches its maximum near the phase transition point. The specific dynamical phenomena are explained with eigenspectra and level populations after the quenching. In the presence of interactions, the time-dependent density–matrix renormalization group (tDMRG) method is hired to study the collective dynamics. The case with weak interactions is similar to that without interactions, except that interactions tend to enhance damping. In addition to that, Bragg reflection can be observed when the quenching displacement exceeds a critical value. The case with strong interactions is also studied, in which case the phase transition points will be dramatically changed and the system can even move into the Mott insulator phase, which will greatly affect the corresponding collective dynamics. The phenomena predicted in this work can be readily observed in current available experiments on atom flux lattices.

Finding the phase diagram of strongly correlated disordered bosons using quantum quenches

The question of how the low-energy properties of disordered quantum systems may be connected to exotic localization phenomena at high energy is a key open question in the context of quantum glasses and many-body localization. In the preceding Letter [L. Villa, S. J. Thomson, and L. Sanchez-Palencia, preceding Letter, Phys. Rev. A 104, L021301 (2021)] we have shown that key features of the excitation spectrum of a disordered system can be efficiently probed from out-of-equilibrium dynamics following a quantum quench, providing distinctive signatures of the various phases. Here we extend this work by providing a more-in-depth study of the behavior of the quench spectral functions associated with different observables and investigating an extended parameter regime. We provide a detailed introduction to quench spectroscopy for disordered systems and show how spectral properties can be probed using both local operators and two-point correlation functions. We benchmark the technique using the one-dimensional Bose-Hubbard model in the presence of a random external potential, focusing on the low-lying excitations, and demonstrate that quench spectroscopy can distinguish the Mott insulator, superfluid, and Bose glass phases. We then explicitly reconstruct the zero-temperature phase diagram of the disordered Bose-Hubbard at fixed filling using two independent methods, experimentally accessible via both time-of-flight imaging and quantum gas microscopy, respectively, and demonstrate that quench spectroscopy can give valuable insights into the distribution of rare regions within disordered systems.

Mott transition in a cavity-boson system: A quantitative comparison between theory and experiment

The competition between short-range and cavity-mediated infinite-range interactions in a cavity-boson system leads to the existence of a superfluid phase and a Mott-insulator phase within the self-organized regime. In this work, we quantitatively compare the steady-state phase boundaries of this transition measured in experiments and simulated using the Multiconfigurational Time-Dependent Hartree Method for Indistinguishable Particles. To make the problem computationally feasible, we represent the full system by the exact many-body wave function of a two-dimensional four-well potential. We argue that the validity of this representation comes from the nature of both the cavity-atomic system and the Bose-Hubbard physics. Additionally, we show that the chosen representation only induces small systematic errors, and that the experimentally measured and theoretically predicted phase boundaries agree reasonably well. We thus demonstrate a new approach for the quantitative numerical modeling for the physics of the superfluid--Mott-insulator phase boundary.

Quantum coherence and ground-state phase transition in a four-chain Bose–Hubbard model

We study the quantum coherence and ground-state phase transition of a four-chain Bose–Hubbard model with the long-range interaction. In a special four-chain Bose–Hubbard model, i.e., each chain only has one optical potential, four types of the ground-state phases are discovered. The effects of the disorder, the on-site interaction and the long-range interaction on the quantum coherence are studied. For the system without the long-range interaction, the quantum coherence changes from one periodic oscillation to two periodic oscillations as the on-site interaction increases. By considering the long-range interaction, the quantum coherence goes back to one periodic oscillation again. The on-site interaction itself suppresses the quantum coherence, both the on-site interaction and long-range interaction together enhance the quantum coherence with the weak disorder. If the disorder strength is increased beyond a critical value, they start to suppress the quantum coherence. In a regular four-chain Bose–Hubbard model, i.e., each chain has many optical potentials, the ground-state phase transitions are obtained by using the cluster Gutzwiller mean-field method. Exotic ground-state phases are found, i.e., superfluid phase, integer Mott insulator phase, supersolid phase and loophole insulator phase. The combination of the loophole insulator phase and the supersolid phase expands the lobes with the half-integer filling per site for the small ratio β = t ∥/t ⊥.

Robust preparation of many-body ground states in Jaynes\u2013Cummings lattices

Strongly correlated polaritons in Jaynes–Cummings (JC) lattices can exhibit quantum phase transitions between the Mott-insulating and superfluid phases at integer fillings. The prerequisite to observe such phase transitions is to pump polariton excitations into a JC lattice and prepare them into appropriate ground states. Despite previous efforts, it is still challenging to generate many-body states with high accuracy. Here, we present an approach for the robust preparation of many-body ground states of polaritons in finite-sized JC lattices by optimized nonlinear ramping. We apply a Landau–Zener type of estimation to this finite-sized system and derive the optimal ramping index for selected ramping trajectories, which can greatly improve the fidelity of the prepared states. With numerical simulation, we show that by choosing an appropriate ramping trajectory, the fidelity in this approach can remain close to unity in almost the entire parameter space. This approach can shed light on high-fidelity state preparation in quantum simulators and advance the implementation of quantum simulation with practical devices.