Criterion for bosonic superfluidity in an optical lattice (original) (raw)

Superfluidity of Bosonic Atoms in Multi-Band Optical Lattices

2004

We study the effect of external trapping potentials on the phase diagram of bosonic atoms in optical lattices. We introduce a generalized Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian that includes the structure of the energy levels of the trapping potential, and show that these levels are in general populated both at finite and zero temperature. We characterize the properties of the superfluid transition for this situation and compare them with those of the standard Bose-Hubbard description. We briefly discuss similar behaviors for fermionic systems.

Strong-coupling expansion for ultracold bosons in an optical lattice at finite temperatures in the presence of superfluidity

Physical Review A, 2013

We develop a strong-coupling (t ≪ U) expansion technique for calculating the density profile for bosonic atoms trapped in an optical lattice with an overall harmonic trap at finite temperature and finite on site interaction in the presence of superfluid regions. Our results match well with quantum Monte Carlo simulations at finite temperature. We also show that the superfluid order parameter never vanishes in the trap due to proximity effect. Our calculations for the scaled density in the vacuum to superfluid transition agree well with the experimental data for appropriate temperatures. We present calculations for the entropy per particle as a function of temperature which can be used to calibrate the temperature in experiments. We also discuss issues connected with the demonstration of universal quantum critical scaling in the experiments.

Signatures of the superfluid–to–Mott-insulator transition in cold bosonic atoms in a one-dimensional optical lattice

Physical Review A, 2009

We study the Bose-Hubbard model using the finite size density matrix renormalization group method. We obtain for the first time a complete phase diagram for a system in the presence of a harmonic trap and compare it with that of the homogeneous system. To realize the transition from the superfluid to the Mott insulator phase we investigate different experimental signatures of these phases in quantities such as momentum distribution, visibility, condensate fraction and the total number of bosons at a particular density. The relationships between the various experimental signatures and the phase diagram are highlighted.

Loss of Superfluidity in Bose-Einstein Condensate in an Optical lattice with Two- and Three-Body Interactions

arXiv (Cornell University), 2007

In a one dimensional shallow optical lattice, in the presence of both cubic and quintic nonlinearity, a superfluid density wave, is identified in Bose-Einstein condensate. Interestingly, it ceases to exist, when only one of these interaction is operative. We predict the loss of superfluidity through a classical dynamical phase transition, where modulational instability leads to the loss of phase coherence. In certain parameter domain, the competition between lattice potential and the interactions, is shown to give rise to a stripe phase, where atoms are confined in finite domains. In pure two-body case, apart from the known superfluid and insulating phases, a density wave insulating phase is found to exist, possessing two frequency modulations commensurate with the lattice potential.

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

Physical Review Letters, 2009

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.

On Quantum Bosonic Solids and Bosonic Superfluids

Arxiv preprint cond-mat/0403746, 2004

We review the nature of superfluid ground states and the universality of their properties with emphasis to Bose Einstein Condensate systems in atomic physics. We then study the superfluid Mott transition in such systems. We find that there could be two types of Mott transitions and phases. One of them was described long ago and corresponds to suppression of Josephson tunneling within superfluids sitting at each well. On the other hand, the conditions of optical lattice BEC experiments are such that either the coherence length is longer than the interwell separation, or there is too small a number of bosons per well. This vitiates the existence of a superfluid order parameter within a well, and therefore of Josephson tunneling between wells. Under such conditions, there is a transition to a Mott phase which corresponds to suppression of individual boson tunneling among wells. This last transition is in general discontinuous and can happen for incommensurate values of bosons per site. If the coherence length is small enough and the number of bosons per site large enough, the transition studied in the earlier work will happen.

Superfluidity of bosons on a deformable lattice

Physical Review B, 2001

We study the superfluid properties of a system of interacting bosons on a lattice which, moreover, are coupled to the vibrational modes of this lattice, treated here in terms of Einstein phonon model. The ground state corresponds to two correlated condensates: that of the bosons and that of the phonons. Two competing effects determine the common collective soundwave-like mode with sound velocity v, arising from gauge symmetry breaking: i) The sound velocity v0 (corresponding to a weakly interacting Bose system on a rigid lattice) in the lowest order approximation is reduced due to reduction of the repulsive boson-boson interaction, arising from the attractive part of phonon mediated interaction in the static limit. ii) the second order correction to the sound velocity is enhanced as compared to the one of bosons on a rigid lattice when the the boson-phonon interaction is switched on due to the retarded nature of phonon mediated interaction. The overall effect is that the sound velocity is practically unaffected by the coupling with phonons, indicating the robustness of the superfluid state. The induction of a coherent state in the phonon system, driven by the condensation of the bosons could be of experimental significance, permitting spectroscopic detections of superfluid properties of the bosons. Our results are based on an extension of the Beliaev-Popov formalism for a weakly interacting Bose gas on a rigid lattice to that on a deformable lattice with which it interacts.

Quantum theory of cold bosonic atoms in optical lattices

Physical Review A, 2011

Ultracold atoms in optical lattices undergo a quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator as the lattice potential depth is increased. We describe an approximate theory of interacting bosons in optical lattices which provides a qualitative description of both superfluid and insulator states. The theory is based on a change of variables in which the boson coherent state amplitude is replaced by an effective potential which promotes phase coherence between different number states on each lattice site. It is illustrated here by applying it to uniform and fully frustrated lattice cases but is simple enough that it can be applied to spatially inhomogeneous lattice systems.

Superfluid properties of a Bose–Einstein condensate in an optical lattice confined in a cavity

Optics Communications, 2008

We study the effect of a one dimensional optical lattice in a cavity field with quantum properties on the superfluid dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate(BEC). In the cavity the influence of atomic backaction and the external driving pump become important and modify the optical potential. Due to the coupling between the condensate wavefunction and the cavity modes, the cavity light field develops a band structure. This study reveals that the pump and the cavity emerges as a new handle to control the superfluid properties of the BEC.