Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Physical Review Letters

Realization of a Floquet-Engineered Moat Band for Ultracold Atoms

Carlos Bracamontes, J. Maslek, J. V. Porto

Published May 24, 2022• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We experimentally engineer a moatlike dispersion in a system of weakly interacting bosons. By periodically modulating the amplitude of a checkerboard optical lattice, the two lowest isolated bands are hybridized such that the single particle energy displays a continuum of nearly degenerate minima that lie along a circle in reciprocal space. The moatlike structure is confirmed by observing a zero group velocity at nonzero quasimomentum and we directly observe the effect of the modified dispersion on the trajectory of the center of mass position of the condensate. We measure the lifetime of condensates loaded into different moat bands at different quasimomenta and compare to theoretical predictions based on a linear stability analysis of Bogoliubov excitations. We find that the condensate decay increases rapidly as the quasimomentum is decreased below the radius of the moat minimum, and argue that such dynamical instability is characteristic of moatlike dispersions, including spin-orbit coupled systems. The ground state of strongly interacting bosons in such degenerate energy landscapes is expected to be highly correlated, and our work represents a step toward realizing fractional quantum Hall-like states of bosons in an optical lattice.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.128.213401

Related papers

Correlated phases of moat-band excitons in two dimensions

L. Maisel Licerán, S. H. Boeve, H. T. C. Stoof

We study dilute two-dimensional systems of interacting excitons with a moat dispersion, whose ground-state manifold consists of a set of discrete or continuously degenerate energy minima. At low densities and in the presence of contact interactions, it is known that the bosons can undergo statistical transmutation and give rise to a chiral spin liquid. Here, we show that long-range interactions such as those expected in excitonic systems introduce a rich competition between the chiral spin liquid and different kinds of Bose-Einstein condensates. The moat dispersion can favor Bose-Einstein condensation into states occupying multiple momenta, leading to inhomogeneous and supersolid phases with a highly anisotropic superfluid response. We demonstrate that a proper $T$-matrix renormalization of the exciton-exciton interaction is essential for describing these phases and show that they can arise even from purely repulsive interactions. This formalism is employed to obtain the phase diagram of competing homogeneous and stripe condensates with the chiral spin liquid in an electron-hole bilayer model. In addition, we show how the $T$ matrix enters the familiar Gross-Pitaevskii framework and map out extended phase diagrams within a pseudopotential approximation. We place our findings in the context of real excitonic systems by discussing the roles of finite lifetimes, disorder, band-structure warping, and nonzero temperatures. We conclude that moat bands can drive Bose-Einstein condensation and supersolidity already at weak coupling, in contrast to the case of a standard parabolic dispersion.

cond-mat.quant-gasCross-listedarXiv:2602.18194•Feb 23, 2026

Low energy physics of interacting bosons with a moat spectrum, and the implications for condensed matter and cold nuclear matter

Robert D. Pisarski, Alexei M. Tsvelik

We discuss bosonic models with a moat spectrum, where in momentum space the minimum of the dispersion relation is on a sphere of nonzero radius. For spinless bosons with $O(N)$ symmetry, we emphasize the essential difference between $N=2$ and $N > 2$. When $N=2$, there are two phase transitions: at zero temperature, a transition to a state with Bose condensation, and at nonzero temperature, a transition to a spatially inhomogeneous state. When $N > 2$, previous analysis suggests that a mass gap is generated dynamically at any temperature. In condensed matter, a moat spectrum is important for spin-orbit-coupled bosons. For cold nuclear or quarkyonic matter, we suggest that the transport properties, such as neutrino emission, are dominated by the phonons related to a moat spectrum; also, that at least in the quarkyonic phase the nucleons may be a non-Fermi liquid.

arXiv:2103.15835•Mar 29, 2021•8 citations

Fermionization of bosons in a flat band

Saurabh Maiti, Tigran Sedrakyan

Strongly interacting bosons that live in a lattice with degeneracy in its lowest-energy band experience frustration that can prevent the formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate. Such systems form an ideal playground to investigate spin-liquid behavior. We use the variational principle and the Chern-Simons technique of fermionization of hard-core bosons on the kagome lattice to find that below lattice filling fraction $\ensuremath{\nu}=\frac{1}{3}$ the system favors a topologically ordered chiral spin-liquid state that is gapped in bulk, spontaneously breaks time-reversal symmetry, and supports massless chiral bosonic edge mode. We construct the many-body variational wave function of the state and show that the corresponding energy coincides with the energy of the flat band. This result proves that the ground state of the system cannot stabilize a Bose condensate below $\ensuremath{\nu}=\frac{1}{3}$. The fermionization and variational scheme we outline apply to any non-Bravais lattice. We distinguish between the roles played by the Chern-Simons gauge field in lattices with a flat band and those exhibiting a moatlike dispersion (which is degenerate along a closed contour in the reciprocal space). We also suggest experimental probes to differentiate the proposed ground state from a condensate.

arXiv:1810.00910•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•May 20, 2019•25 citations

Interacting bosons in topological optical flux lattices

Antoine Sterdyniak, Bogdan Andrei Bernevig, Nigel R. Cooper +1 more

An interesting route to the realization of topological Chern bands in ultracold atomic gases is through the use of optical flux lattices. These models differ from the tight-binding real-space lattice models of Chern insulators that are conventionally studied in solid-state contexts. Instead, they involve the coherent coupling of internal atomic (spin) states, and can be viewed as tight-binding models in reciprocal space. By changing the form of the coupling and the number $N$ of internal spin states, they give rise to Chern bands with controllable Chern number and with nearly flat energy dispersion. We investigate in detail how interactions between bosons occupying these bands can lead to the emergence of fractional quantum Hall states, such as the Laughlin and Moore-Read states. In order to test the experimental realization of these phases, we study their stability with respect to band dispersion and band mixing. We also probe interesting topological phases that emerge in these systems when the Chern number is greater than 1.

arXiv:1410.0357•Physical Review B•Jan 13, 2015•25 citations

Orbital-driven melting of a bosonic Mott insulator in a shaken optical lattice

Christoph Sträter, André Eckardt

In order to study the interesting interplay between localized and dispersive orbital states in a system of strongly interacting ultracold atoms in an optical lattice, we investigate the possibility to coherently couple the lowest two Bloch bands by means of resonant periodic forcing. For bosons in one dimension we show that a strongly interacting Floquet system can be realized, where at every lattice site two (and only two) near-degenerate orbital states are relevant, whose tunneling matrix elements differ in sign and magnitude. By smoothly tuning both states into resonance, the system is predicted to undergo an orbital-driven Mott-insulator-to-superfluid transition. As a consequence of kinetic frustration, this transition can be either continuous or first order, depending on parameters such as lattice depth and filling.

arXiv:1407.7421•Physical Review A•May 4, 2015•15 citations

Modified interactions in a Floquet topological system on a square lattice and their impact on a bosonic fractional Chern insulator state

Mantas Račiūnas, Giedrius Žlabys, André Eckardt +1 more

We propose a simple scheme for the realization of a topological quasienergy band structure with ultracold atoms in a periodically driven optical square lattice. It is based on a circular lattice shaking in the presence of a superlattice that lowers the energy on every other site. The topological band gap, which separates the two bands with Chern numbers $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1$, is opened in a way characteristic of Floquet topological insulators, namely, by terms of the effective Hamiltonian that appear in subleading order of a high-frequency expansion. These terms correspond to processes where a particle tunnels several times during one driving period. The interplay of such processes with particle interactions also gives rise to new interaction terms of several distinct types. For bosonic atoms with on-site interactions, they include nearest-neighbor density-density interactions introduced at the cost of weakened on-site repulsion as well as density-assisted tunneling. Using exact diagonalization, we investigate the impact of the individual induced interaction terms on the stability of a bosonic fractional Chern insulator state at half filling of the lowest band.

arXiv:1602.06784•Physical Review A•Apr 21, 2016•18 citations
We experimentally engineer a moatlike dispersion in a system of weakly interacting bosons. By periodically modulating the amplitude of a checkerboard optical lattice, the two lowest isolated bands are hybridized such that the single particle energy displays a continuum of nearly degenerate minima that lie along a circle in reciprocal space. The moatlike structure is confirmed by observing a zero group velocity at nonzero quasimomentum and we directly observe the effect of the modified dispersion on the trajectory of the center of mass position of the condensate. We measure the lifetime of condensates loaded into different moat bands at different quasimomenta and compare to theoretical predictions based on a linear stability analysis of Bogoliubov excitations. We find that the condensate decay increases rapidly as the quasimomentum is decreased below the radius of the moat minimum, and argue that such dynamical instability is characteristic of moatlike dispersions, including spin-orbit coupled systems. The ground state of strongly interacting bosons in such degenerate energy landscapes is expected to be highly correlated, and our work represents a step toward realizing fractional quantum Hall-like states of bosons in an optical lattice.
We study dilute two-dimensional systems of interacting excitons with a moat dispersion, whose ground-state manifold consists of a set of discrete or continuously degenerate energy minima. At low densities and in the presence of contact interactions, it is known that the bosons can undergo statistical transmutation and give rise to a chiral spin liquid. Here, we show that long-range interactions such as those expected in excitonic systems introduce a rich competition between the chiral spin liquid and different kinds of Bose-Einstein condensates. The moat dispersion can favor Bose-Einstein condensation into states occupying multiple momenta, leading to inhomogeneous and supersolid phases with a highly anisotropic superfluid response. We demonstrate that a proper TTT-matrix renormalization of the exciton-exciton interaction is essential for describing these phases and show that they can arise even from purely repulsive interactions. This formalism is employed to obtain the phase diagram of competing homogeneous and stripe condensates with the chiral spin liquid in an electron-hole bilayer model. In addition, we show how the TTT matrix enters the familiar Gross-Pitaevskii framework and map out extended phase diagrams within a pseudopotential approximation. We place our findings in the context of real excitonic systems by discussing the roles of finite lifetimes, disorder, band-structure warping, and nonzero temperatures. We conclude that moat bands can drive Bose-Einstein condensation and supersolidity already at weak coupling, in contrast to the case of a standard parabolic dispersion.
We discuss bosonic models with a moat spectrum, where in momentum space the minimum of the dispersion relation is on a sphere of nonzero radius. For spinless bosons with O(N)O(N)O(N) symmetry, we emphasize the essential difference between N=2N=2N=2 and N>2N > 2N>2. When N=2N=2N=2, there are two phase transitions: at zero temperature, a transition to a state with Bose condensation, and at nonzero temperature, a transition to a spatially inhomogeneous state. When N>2N > 2N>2, previous analysis suggests that a mass gap is generated dynamically at any temperature. In condensed matter, a moat spectrum is important for spin-orbit-coupled bosons. For cold nuclear or quarkyonic matter, we suggest that the transport properties, such as neutrino emission, are dominated by the phonons related to a moat spectrum; also, that at least in the quarkyonic phase the nucleons may be a non-Fermi liquid.
Strongly interacting bosons that live in a lattice with degeneracy in its lowest-energy band experience frustration that can prevent the formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate. Such systems form an ideal playground to investigate spin-liquid behavior. We use the variational principle and the Chern-Simons technique of fermionization of hard-core bosons on the kagome lattice to find that below lattice filling fraction $\ensuremath{\nu}=\frac{1}{3}$ the system favors a topologically ordered chiral spin-liquid state that is gapped in bulk, spontaneously breaks time-reversal symmetry, and supports massless chiral bosonic edge mode. We construct the many-body variational wave function of the state and show that the corresponding energy coincides with the energy of the flat band. This result proves that the ground state of the system cannot stabilize a Bose condensate below $\ensuremath{\nu}=\frac{1}{3}$. The fermionization and variational scheme we outline apply to any non-Bravais lattice. We distinguish between the roles played by the Chern-Simons gauge field in lattices with a flat band and those exhibiting a moatlike dispersion (which is degenerate along a closed contour in the reciprocal space). We also suggest experimental probes to differentiate the proposed ground state from a condensate.
An interesting route to the realization of topological Chern bands in ultracold atomic gases is through the use of optical flux lattices. These models differ from the tight-binding real-space lattice models of Chern insulators that are conventionally studied in solid-state contexts. Instead, they involve the coherent coupling of internal atomic (spin) states, and can be viewed as tight-binding models in reciprocal space. By changing the form of the coupling and the number NNN of internal spin states, they give rise to Chern bands with controllable Chern number and with nearly flat energy dispersion. We investigate in detail how interactions between bosons occupying these bands can lead to the emergence of fractional quantum Hall states, such as the Laughlin and Moore-Read states. In order to test the experimental realization of these phases, we study their stability with respect to band dispersion and band mixing. We also probe interesting topological phases that emerge in these systems when the Chern number is greater than 1.
In order to study the interesting interplay between localized and dispersive orbital states in a system of strongly interacting ultracold atoms in an optical lattice, we investigate the possibility to coherently couple the lowest two Bloch bands by means of resonant periodic forcing. For bosons in one dimension we show that a strongly interacting Floquet system can be realized, where at every lattice site two (and only two) near-degenerate orbital states are relevant, whose tunneling matrix elements differ in sign and magnitude. By smoothly tuning both states into resonance, the system is predicted to undergo an orbital-driven Mott-insulator-to-superfluid transition. As a consequence of kinetic frustration, this transition can be either continuous or first order, depending on parameters such as lattice depth and filling.
We propose a simple scheme for the realization of a topological quasienergy band structure with ultracold atoms in a periodically driven optical square lattice. It is based on a circular lattice shaking in the presence of a superlattice that lowers the energy on every other site. The topological band gap, which separates the two bands with Chern numbers $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1$, is opened in a way characteristic of Floquet topological insulators, namely, by terms of the effective Hamiltonian that appear in subleading order of a high-frequency expansion. These terms correspond to processes where a particle tunnels several times during one driving period. The interplay of such processes with particle interactions also gives rise to new interaction terms of several distinct types. For bosonic atoms with on-site interactions, they include nearest-neighbor density-density interactions introduced at the cost of weakened on-site repulsion as well as density-assisted tunneling. Using exact diagonalization, we investigate the impact of the individual induced interaction terms on the stability of a bosonic fractional Chern insulator state at half filling of the lowest band.