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.     

Semiclassical solitons in strongly correlated systems of ultracold bosonic atoms in optical lattices

We investigate theoretically soliton excitations and dynamics of their formation in strongly correlated systems of ultracold bosonic atoms in two and three dimensional optical lattices. We derive equations of nonlinear hydrodynamics in the regime of strong interactions and incommensurate fillings, when atoms can be treated as hard core bosons. When parameters change in one direction only we obtain Korteweg–de Vries type equation away from half-filling and modified KdV equation at half-filling. We apply this general analysis to a problem of the decay of the density step. We consider stability of one dimensional solutions to transverse fluctuations. Our results are also relevant for understanding nonequilibrium dynamics of lattice spin models.     

Real-time Ginzburg-Landau theory for bosons in optical lattices

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 transitions it turns out that particle/hole dispersions in the Mott phase map continuously onto corresponding amplitude/phase excitations in the superfluid phase. Furthermore, in the superfluid phase we find a sound mode, which is in accordance with recent Bragg spectroscopy measurements in the Bogoliubov regime, as well as an additional gapped mode, which seems to have been detected via lattice modulation.     

Oscillating superfluidity of bosons in optical lattices

Following a suggestion by Orzel et al. [Science 291, 2386 (2001)]], we analyze bosons in an optical lattice undergoing a sudden parameter change from the Mott to superfluid phase. We introduce a modified coherent states path integral to describe both phases. The saddle point theory yields collective oscillations of the uniform superfluid order parameter. We calculate its damping rate by phason pair emission. In two dimensions the overdamped region largely overlaps with the quantum critical region. Measurements of critical dynamics on the Mott side are proposed.     

Spin singlet mott states and evidence for spin singlet quantum condensates of spin-one bosons in lattices

We have investigated spin singlet Mott states of spin-one bosons with antiferromagnetic interactions. These spin singlet states do not break rotational symmetry and exhibit remarkably different macroscopic properties compared with nematic Mott states of spin-one bosons. We demonstrate that the dynamics of spin singlet Mott states is fully characterized by even- or odd-class quantum dimer models. The difference between spin singlet Mott states for even and odd numbers of atoms per site can be attributed to a selection rule in the low energy sectors of on-site Hilbert spaces; alternatively, it can also be attributed to an effect of Berry’s phases on bosonic Mott states. We also discuss evidence for spin singlet quantum condensate of spin-one atoms. Our main finding is that in a projected spin singlet Hilbert space, the low energy physics of spin-one bosons is equivalent to that of a Bose-Hubbard model for spinless bosons interacting via Ising gauge fields. The other major finding is spin-charge separation in some one-dimensional Mott states. We propose charge-e spin singlet superfluid for an odd number of atoms per lattice site and charge-2e spin singlet superfluid for an even number of atoms per lattice site in one-dimensional lattices. All discussions in this article are limited to integer numbers of bosons per site.     

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.     

Self-trapping of bosons and fermions in optical lattices

We theoretically investigate the enhanced localization of bosonic atoms by fermionic atoms in three-dimensional optical lattices and find a self-trapping of the bosons for attractive boson-fermion interaction. Because of this mutual interaction, the fermion orbitals are substantially squeezed, which results in a strong deformation of the effective potential for bosons. This effect is enhanced by an increasing bosonic filling factor leading to a large shift of the transition between the superfluid and the Mott-insulator phase. We find a nonlinear dependency of the critical potential depth on the boson-fermion interaction strength. The results, in general, demonstrate the important role of higher Bloch bands for the physics of attractively interacting quantum gas mixtures in optical lattices and are of direct relevance to recent experiments with 87Rb-40K mixtures, where a large shift of the critical point has been found.     

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.     

Quantum phases of dipolar bosons in optical lattices

The ground state of dipolar bosons placed in an optical lattice is analyzed. We show that the modification of experimentally accessible parameters can lead to the realization and control of different quantum phases, including superfluid, supersolid, Mott insulator, checkerboard, and collapse phases.     

Addressing atoms in optical lattices with Bessel beams

A method of synthesizing localized optical fields with zeros on a periodic lattice is analyzed. The applicability to addressing atoms trapped in optical lattices with low cross talk is discussed.     

Few-particle Green's functions for strongly correlated systems on infinite lattices

We show how few-particle Green's functions can be calculated efficiently for models with nearest-neighbor hopping, for infinite lattices in any dimension. As an example, for one-dimensional spinless fermions with both nearest-neighbor and second-nearest-neighbor interactions, we investigate the ground states for up to 5?fermions. This allows us not only to find the stability region of various bound complexes, but also to infer the phase diagram at small but finite concentrations.     

Ultracold atoms in optical lattices with random on-site interactions

We consider the physics of lattice bosons affected by disordered on-site interparticle interactions. Characteristic qualitative changes in the zero-temperature phase diagram are observed when compared to the case of randomness in the chemical potential. The Mott-insulating regions shrink and eventually vanish for any finite disorder strength beyond a sufficiently large filling factor. Furthermore, at low values of the chemical potential both the superfluid and Mott insulator are stable towards formation of a Bose glass leading to a possibly nontrivial tricritical point. We discuss feasible experimental realizations of our scenario in the context of ultracold atoms on optical lattices.     

Delocalized entanglement of atoms in optical lattices

We show how to detect and quantify entanglement of atoms in optical lattices in terms of correlation functions of the momentum distribution. These distributions can be measured directly in the experiments. We introduce two kinds of entanglement measures related to the position and the spin of the atoms.     

Transport of cold atoms in optical lattices

The work discusses transport of cold atoms in optical lattices. Two related but different problems are considered: interacting Bose atoms subject to a static field (i.e., the atoms in a tilted lattice); and non-interacting atoms in a tilted lattice in the presence of a buffer gas. For these two systems we found, respectively: periodic, quasiperiodic, or decaying Bloch oscillations, as it depends on the strength of atom-atom interactions and the magnitude of the static field; diffusive directed current of atoms, similar to the electron current in ordinary conductors.     

Intrinsic heating and cooling in adiabatic processes for bosons in optical lattices

We show that by raising the lattice "adiabatically" as in many current optical lattice experiments on bosons, even though the temperature may decrease initially, it will eventually rise linearly with lattice height, taking the system farther away from quantum degeneracy. This increase has nothing to do with the entropy of the bulk Mott phase and is caused by the adiabatic compression of the mobile atoms between Mott layers. Our studies show that one can reverse the temperature rise to reach quantum degeneracy by adiabatic expansion, which can be achieved by a variety of methods.     

Studies of bosons in optical lattices in a harmonic potential

We present a theoretical study of Bose condensation and specific heat of non-interacting bosons in finite lattices in harmonic potentials in one, two, and three dimensions. We numerically diagonalize the Hamiltonian to obtain the energy levels of the systems. Using the energy levels thus obtained, we investigate the temperature dependence, dimensionality effects, lattice size dependence, and evolution to the bulk limit of the condensate fraction and the specific heat. Some preliminary results on the specific heat of fermions in optical lattices are also presented. The results obtained are contextualized within the current experimental and theoretical scenario.     

Quantum phase transition of ultracold bosons in double-well optical lattices

We study the superfluid-to-Mott insulator transition of bosons in a two-legged ladder optical lattice of a type accessible in current experiments on double-well optical lattices. The zero-temperature phase diagram is mapped out, with a focus on its dependence upon interchain hopping and the tilt between double wells. We find that the unit-filling Mott phase exhibits a nonmonotonic behavior as a function of the tilt parameter, producing a reentrant phase transition between the Mott insulator and superfluid phases.     

Unconventional strongly interacting bose-einstein condensates in optical lattices

Feschbach resonances in a non-s-wave channel of two-component bosonic mixtures can induce atomic Bose-Einstein condensates with a nonzero orbital momentum in the optical lattice, if one component is in the Mott insulator state and the other is not. Such non-s-wave condensates break the symmetry of the lattice and, in some cases, time-reversal symmetry. They can be revealed in specific absorption imaging patterns.