Similarities between alkali-metal gases in optical lattices with noninteger occupation of the lattice sites and quantum crystals are explored. The analogy with the vacancy liquid (VL) provides an alternative explanation to the Mott transition for the recent experiment on the phase transition in the lattice. The VL can undergo Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) with ${T}_{c}$ within experimental reach. Direct and vacancy-assisted mechanisms of the band motion for hyperfine impurities are discussed. A large concentration of vacancies can result in the spatial decomposition of the system into pure hyperfine components. Below the vacancy condensation the impurity component resembles ${}^{3}\mathrm{He}$ in ${}^{3}\mathrm{He}--\mathrm{He}$ II mixtures.
Similarities between alkali-metal gases in optical lattices with noninteger occupation of the lattice sites and quantum crystals are explored. The analogy with the vacancy liquid (VL) provides an alternative explanation to the Mott transition for the recent experiment on the phase transition in the lattice. The VL can undergo Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) with Tc within experimental reach. Direct and vacancy-assisted mechanisms of the band motion for hyperfine impurities are discussed. A large concentration of vacancies can result in the spatial decomposition of the system into pure hyperfine components. Below the vacancy condensation the impurity component resembles 3He in 3He−−He II mixtures.
An important new development in the field of ultracold atomic gases is the study of the properties of these gases in a so-called optical lattice. An optical lattice is a periodic trapping potential for the atoms that is formed by the interference pattern of a few laser beams. A reason for the interest in these systems is that the effects of the interatomic interactions can be strongly enhanced. More specifically, it has been shown in a beautiful experiment by Greiner et al. in 2002 that by loading a Bose-Einstein condensate into an optical lattice it is possible for the system to undergo a quantum phase transition to a new quantum phase of matter, the so-called Mott insulator phase. Within this Mott insulator phase each lattice site is occupied by exactly one atom. This makes the Mott insulator phase especially well suited for applications in the field of quantum computation and quantum information processing. We have theoretically investigated the above mentioned quantum phase transition and our formalism allows for a description of the Mott insulator phase at nonzero temperatures. Another important experimental development in the field of ultracold atomic gases is the use of Feshbach resonances to control the interatomic interactions. Such a resonance occurs whenever two colliding atoms form a long-lived molecule for some time. The crucial point of a Feshbach resonance is that the above mentioned molecule has a magnetic moment that is not equal to twice the magnetic moment of the atom. As a consequence the energy difference between the two atoms and the molecule and hence the interactions between the atoms can be controlled by using an external magnetic field. By combining these two techniques, i.e, by trapping ultracold atomic gases in an optical lattice and by tuning a magnetic field near a Feshbach resonance there can be a new quantum phase transition between two superfluid phases. We gave derived the the theory for the description of these Feshbach resonances in optical lattices and applied it to various systems. To be a bit more precise, if we tune the external magnetic field such that the energy difference between a molecule and two atoms is sufficiently negative, then the gas consists of a Bose-Einstein condensate of molecules. In contrast, if the energy difference is large enough and positive we have a gas that consists primarily of a Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms. It turns out that these two limits are separated by an Ising-like quantum phase transition. By using atomic Bose gases near a Feshbach resonance detailed experimental studies which test the theoretical predictions of the statistical and dynamical properties of these quantum phase transitions can be made.
An optical lattice is a periodic potential for atoms, created using a standing wave pattern of light. Due to the interaction between the light and the atoms, the atoms are attracted to either the nodes or the anti-nodes of the standing wave, depending on the exact wave lenght of the light. This means that if such a lattice is loaded with a sufficiently high number of ultracold atoms, a periodic array of atoms is obtained, we an interatomic distance of a few tenths of a micrometer. In order to obtain such a high number of cold atoms, one first has to create a so-called Bose-Einstein condensate. When an optical lattice is loaded from a Bose-Einstein condensate, it is possible to create a system in which every atom is in the lowest band of the lattice and there is on average one atom in each lattice site. Because the lattice potential is created with laser light, the depth of the lattice can easily be tuned by changing the intensity of the laser. When the intensity of the laser light is low, the atoms can tunnel from one site to the next. Due to this tunneling, the gas of atoms in the lattice will remain superfluid. However, if the intensity of the laser light is increased to above a certain critical value, a quantum phase transition occurs to a so-called Mott insulator. In this state, the atoms can no longer tunnel due to the fact that the on-site interaction between atoms becomes more important then the tunneling probability. In this PhD thesis, a description is given of the experimental setup that is being constructed in our group to create these systems in our lab. Also, a theoretical description is given of these systems and several important quantities our derived, such as the gap of the Mott-insulating state. Furthermore, an experiment is proposed that can be used to accurately measure this gap.
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in cold gases can be turned on and off by an external potential, such as that presented by an optical lattice. We present a model of this phenomenon which we are able to analyze rigorously. The system is a hard core lattice gas at half of the maximum density and the optical lattice is modeled by a periodic potential of strength $\ensuremath{\lambda}$. For small $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ and temperature, BEC is proved to occur, while at large $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ or temperature there is no BEC. At large $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ the low-temperature states are in a Mott insulator phase with a characteristic gap that is absent in the BEC phase. The interparticle interaction is essential for this transition, which occurs even in the ground state. Surprisingly, the condensation is always into the p=0 mode in this model, although the density itself has the periodicity of the imposed potential.
Recently, experiments on Bose\|Einstein condensates (BECs) confined in an optical lattice have made breakthroughs. A research group in Munich has demonstrated for the first time the quantum phase transition of a superfluid state to the Mott insulator state of a BEC confined in a 3D optical lattice. Such a quantum phase transition is not only fundamentally profound, but also provides new access to applications of BECs. This paper reports our recent theoretical work on the spin dynamics and magnetism of BECs confined in an optical lattice, and explores their possible applications in atomic magnetic sensors and quantum computation.
The most recent advances in the ultracold atoms experimental techniques allowed the production of the ultracold gases mixtures in the laboratory.Motivated by these developments, in this project we study systems involving two ultracold atoms mixtures.In the first part, we consider a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with a vortex lattice weakly interacting with another utracold dilute bosonic gas.We apply the Bose-Hubbard (BH) model to describe the atoms of the minority species trapped in the vortex lattice.As occurs in a static optical lattice, we predict the quantum phase transition between the Mott insulator to superfluid phases, which now can be controlled by changing the intra and inter-species scattering length.Considering the intrinsic lattice dynamics, the Tkachenko modes of the vortex lattice, we derive an extended BH Hamiltonian and analyzed new properties in the phase diagram that arise from a long-range attractive potential and density-dependent hopping.In the second part, we study the properties of a mobile impurity living in two dimensions and interacting with a 2 and 3 BEC cloud.The resulting impurity-bath interaction leads to the formation of a polaron (particle "dressed" by the phonon excitations of the BEC), which is characterized by its spectral function.We determine the energy dispersion, spectral weight, effective mass and lifetime of the polaron.These analysis allowed us to identify a dissipative regime for higher impurity velocities, with an increasing scattering rate of phonons.In addition, we observe a self-localization regime for lower impurity velocities which may be a signature for molecular formation.In spite of qualitatively similar results obtained for the 2 and 3 bath, we had differences related to the self-localization and dissipation limits, that allowed us to conclude that a 2 BEC bath would be a better candidate to observe stable quasi-particle properties.
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in cold gases can be turned on and off by an external potential, such as that presented by an optical lattice.We present a model of this phenomenon which we are able to analyze rigorously.The system is a hard core lattice gas at half-filling and the optical lattice is modeled by a periodic potential of strength λ.For small λ and temperature, BEC is proved to occur, while at large λ or temperature there is no BEC.At large λ the low-temperature states are in a Mott insulator phase with a characteristic gap that is absent in the BEC phase.The interparticle interaction is essential for this transition, which occurs even in the ground state.Surprisingly, the condensation is always into the p = 0 mode in this model, although the density itself has the periodicity of the imposed potential.