We explore the properties of bosonic atoms loaded into the d bands of an isotropic square optical lattice. Following the recent experimental success reported in Zhai et al (2013 Phys. Rev. A 87 063638 ), in which populating d bands with a 99 fidelity was demonstrated, we present a theoretical study of the possible phases that can appear in this system. Using the Gutzwiller ansatz for the three d band orbitals we map the boundaries of the Mott insulating phases. For not too large occupation, two of the orbitals are predominantly occupied, while the third, of a slightly higher energy, remains almost unpopulated. In this regime, in the superfluid phase we find the formation of a vortex lattice, where the vortices come in vortex/anti-vortex pairs with two pairs locked to every site. Due to the orientation of the vortices time-reversal symmetry is spontaneously broken. This state also breaks a discrete -symmetry. We further derive an effective spin-1/2 model that describe the relevant physics of the lowest Mott-phase with unit filling. We argue that the corresponding two dimensional phase diagram should be rich with several different phases. We also explain how to generate anti-symmetric spin interactions that can give rise to novel effects like spin canting.
Orbital degrees of freedom play an important role in understanding the emergence of unconventional quantum phases. Ultracold atomic gases in optical lattices provide a wonderful platform to simulate orbital physics. In this work, we consider spinless fermionic atoms loaded into
p-orbital bands of a two-dimensional frustrated triangular lattice. The system can be described by an extended Fermi-Hubbard model, which is numerically solved by using the orbital version of real-space dynamical mean-field theory. Due to the interplay of anisotropic hoppings and geometrical frustration, a rich phase diagram is found, including stripe-orbital, paraorbital, and ferro-orbital phases, in contrast to its bosonic analog with orbital-skyrmion ordering in the identical lattice. In order to understand the underlying mechanics of competing orbital orders, we derive an effective orbital-exchange model, which yields consistent explanation with our main numerical results.
Orbital degree of freedom plays an important role for understanding quantum many-body phenomena. In this work, we study an experimentally related setup with ultracold bosons loaded into hybridized bands of two-dimensional hexagonal optical lattices. We find that the system supports various quantum many-body phases at zero temperature, including chiral superfluid and chiral Mott insulator by breaking time-reversal symmetry, and time-reversal-even insulating phase, based on dynamical mean-field theory. To explain the time-reversal-even phase, a fourth-order orbital-exchange model is derived to explain the underlying mechanics. To relate to experimental situations, we make band-structure calculations to obtain the Hubbard parameters, and show that these orbital ordering phases persist also in the presence of next-nearest-neighbor hopping.