Localization of bosonic atoms by fermionic impurities in a three-dimensional optical lattice (original) (raw)

We observe a localized phase of ultracold bosonic quantum gases in a 3-dimensional optical lattice induced by a small contribution of fermionic atoms acting as impurities in a Fermi-Bose quantum gas mixture. In particular we study the dependence of this transition on the fermionic 40 K impurity concentration by a comparison to the corresponding superfluid to Mott insulator transition in a pure bosonic 87 Rb gas and find a significant shift in the transition parameter. The observed shift is larger than expected based on a mean-field argument, which is a strong indication that disorder-related effects play a significant role.