Cold atom gases in optical lattices with disorder

Schulte, Thomas, S. Drenkelforth, J. Kruse, Wolfgang A. Ertmer, J. Arlt, Adrian Kantian, Laurent Sanchez-Palencia, Luis Santos, Anna Sanpera, Krzysztof Sacha, P. Zoller, Maciej Lewenstein, Jakub Zakrzewski

Published Jan 1, 2006• 0 citations

OpenAlex

Abstract

Cold atomic gases placed in optical lattices enable studies of simple con- densed matter theory models with parameters that may be tuned relatively easily. When the optical potential is randomized (e.g. using laser speckle to create a random intensity distribution) one may be able to observe Anderson localization of matter waves for non-interacting bosons, the so-called Bose glass in the presence of interactions, as well as the Fermi glass or quantum spin glass for mixtures of fermions and bosons.

Related papers

Cold Atomic Gases in Optical Lattices with Disorder

T. Schulte, S. Drenkelforth, J. Kruse +10 more

Cold atomic gases placed in optical lattices enable studies of simple condensed matter theory models with parameters that may be tuned relatively easily.When the optical potential is randomized (e.g. using laser speckle to create a random intensity distribution) one may be able to observe Anderson localization of matter waves for non-interacting bosons, the so-called Bose glass in the presence of interactions, as well as the Fermi glass or quantum spin glass for mixtures of fermions and bosons.

Acta Physica Polonica AJan 1, 20064 citations

Atomic Bose and Anderson Glasses in Optical Lattices

Bogdan Damski, Jakub Zakrzewski, Luis Santos +2 more

An ultracold atomic Bose gas in an optical lattice is shown to provide an ideal system for the controlled analysis of disordered Bose lattice gases. This goal may be easily achieved under the current experimental conditions by introducing a pseudorandom potential created by a second additional lattice or, alternatively, by placing a speckle pattern on the main lattice. We show that, for a noncommensurable filling factor, in the strong-interaction limit, a controlled growing of the disorder drives a dynamical transition from superfluid to Bose-glass phase. Similarly, in the weak interaction limit, a dynamical transition from superfluid to Anderson-glass phase may be observed. In both regimes, we show that even very low-intensity disorder-inducing lasers cause large modifications of the superfluid fraction of the system.

arXiv:cond-mat/0303065Physical Review LettersAug 19, 2003324 citations

Disordered ultracold atomic gases in optical lattices: A case study of Fermi-Bose mixtures

V. Ahufinger, Laurent Sanchez-Palencia, Adrian Kantian +2 more

We present a review of properties of ultracold atomic Fermi-Bose mixtures in inhomogeneous and random optical lattices. In the strong interacting limit and at very low temperatures, fermions form, together with bosons or bosonic holes, composite fermions. Composite fermions behave as a spinless interacting Fermi gas, and in the presence of local disorder they interact via random couplings and feel effective random local potential. This opens a wide variety of possibilities of realizing various kinds of ultracold quantum disordered systems. In this paper we review these possibilities, discuss the accessible quantum disordered phases, and methods for their detection. The discussed quantum phases include Fermi glasses, quantum spin glasses, ``dirty'' superfluids, disordered metallic phases, and phases involving quantum percolation.

arXiv:cond-mat/0508042Physical Review ADec 21, 200568 citations

Disordered ultracold atomic gases

Maciej Lewenstein, Anna Sanpera, V. Ahufinger

This chapter starts with an introduction to disordered systems, with an emphasis on disorder in condensed matter, and discusses such phenomena as the Anderson localization, and quantum phases such as with Bose glass. It then turns to various experimental realizations of disorder in ultracold atomic gases. The chapter focuses on disordered Bose-Einstein condensates and the phenomenon of Anderson localization in speckle or quasi-periodic, quasi-random potential. It moves on to disordered ultracold fermionic systems, and disordered ultracold Bose–Fermi (B–F) and Bose–Bose (B–B) mixtures. Finally, the chapter examines spin glasses (providing a brief presentation of the mean field theory of Parisi, and the droplet model) and disorder induced order.

Oxford University Press eBooksMar 8, 20121 citation

Matter-Wave Localization in Disordered Cold Atom Lattices

Uri Gavish, Yvan Castin

We propose to observe Anderson localization of ultracold atoms in the presence of a random potential made of atoms of another species or spin state and trapped at the nodes of an optical lattice, with a filling factor less than unity. Such systems enable a nearly perfect experimental control of the disorder, while the possibility of modeling the scattering potentials by a set of pointlike ones allows an exact theoretical analysis. This is illustrated by a detailed analysis of the one-dimensional case.

arXiv:cond-mat/0412671Physical Review LettersJul 5, 2005197 citations

Bose Gases in Tailored Optical and Atomic Lattices

Bryce Gadway

Quantum degenerate atomic gases offer a unique platform for the exploration of a wide variety of interacting many-body systems in a pristine environment, based on a set of powerful tools for the coherent control of the atoms' internal and external degrees of freedom. Here, we present experimental studies of strongly interacting bosonic mixtures in one-dimensional (1D) systems, in which the mobilities of the two species are independently controlled with a state-selective optical lattice. In a first experiment, we freeze out the tunneling of one species from a binary mixture, and study the formation of ``quantum emulsion'' states, where immobile atoms serve as a static, random disorder for a more mobile species. We investigate the 1D superfluid-to-insulator transition in the presence of this disorder, and make comparisons to the effects of quasi-disorder from an incommensurate optical lattice. We observe enhanced localization in the more random potential, highlighting the important role of correlations in disordered systems. Through a combined measurement of transport, localization, and excitation spectra, we are able to obtain strong evidence for observation of a disordered, insulating quantum phase, the 1D Bose glass. In a second experiment, we introduce a new experimental technique for the characterization of ultracold gases held in optical lattices. In analogy to neutron diffraction from solids, we use atomic de Broglie waves to non-destructively probe the spatial structure of 1D Mott insulators through elastic Bragg diffraction, and to probe inelastic band-structure excitations of more weakly interacting 1D Bose gases. Furthermore, we use the diffraction of matter waves to detect the formation of forced-antiferromagnetic ordering in a crystalline atomic spin mixture. Lastly, we study the dynamical response of matter waves to a periodically pulsed, incommensurate optical lattice, a situation that realizes a system of two coupled kicked quantum rotors. We observe that the coupling induces a suppression of energy growth at quantum resonances, and a localization-to-delocalization transition in momentum space for off-resonant driving. Our observations confirm a long-standing theoretical prediction for the two-rotor system, and illustrate how classical behavior can emerge from the evolution of a simple quantum system. | 193 pages

Aug 1, 20121 citation