arXiv:1004.5129 · Physical Review A
Bose-Fermi solid and its quantum melting in a one-dimensional optical lattice
Bin Wang, Daw-Wei Wang, S. Das Sarma
Abstract
We investigate the quantum phase diagram of Bose-Fermi mixtures of ultracold dipolar particles trapped in one-dimensional optical lattices in the thermodynamic limit. With the presence of nearest-neighbor (NN) interactions, a long-ranged ordered crystalline phase (Bose-Fermi solid) is found stabilized in the limit of weak intersite tunneling ($J$). When $J$ is increased, such a Bose-Fermi solid can be quantum melted into a Bose-Fermi liquid through different procedures, depending on whether the crystalline order is dominated by the NN interaction between fermions or bosons. These properties are qualitatively different from the classical picture of solid-liquid phase transition.