arXiv:0812.0356 · Physical Review Letters
Polaritons and Pairing Phenomena in Bose-Hubbard Mixtures
M. J. Bhaseen, Martin Hohenadler, A. O. Silver, Benjamin D. Simons
Abstract
Motivated by recent experiments on cold atomic gases in ultrahigh finesse optical cavities, we consider the two-band Bose-Hubbard model coupled to quantum light. Photoexcitation promotes carriers between the bands, and we study the interplay between Mott insulating behavior and superfluidity. The model displays a U(1)xU(1) symmetry which supports the coexistence of Mott insulating and superfluid phases and yields a rich phase diagram with multicritical points. This symmetry is shared by several other problems of current experimental interest, including two-component Bose gases in optical lattices and the bosonic BEC-BCS crossover for atom-molecule mixtures induced by a Feshbach resonance. We corroborate our findings by numerical simulations.