arXiv:2407.15710 · Physical Review A
Topological quantum floating phase of dipolar bosons in an optical ladder
Henning Korbmacher, G. A. Domínguez‐Castro, Mateusz Łącki, Jakub Zakrzewski, Luis Santos
Abstract
Ultracold dipolar hard-core bosons in optical ladders provide exciting possibilities for the quantum simulation of anisotropic spin ladders. We show that introducing a tilt along the rungs results in a rich phase diagram at unit rung filling. In particular, for a sufficiently strong dipolar strength, the interplay between the long-range tail of the dipolar interactions and the tilting leads to the emergence of a quantum floating phase, a critical phase with incommensurate density-density correlations. Interestingly, the floating phase is topological, constituting an intermediate gapless stage in the melting of a crystal into a gapped topological Haldane phase. This novel scenario for topological floating phases in dipolar spin ladders can be investigated in ongoing experiments.