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arXiv:cond-mat/0402177 · Physical Review Letters

Phase Transition in a System of One-Dimensional Bosons with Strong Disorder

Ehud Altman, Yariv Kafri, Anatoli Polkovnikov, Gil Refael

Published Oct 7, 2004• 102 citations
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Abstract

We study one-dimensional disordered bosons at large commensurate filling. Using a real space renormalization group approach, we find a new random fixed point which controls a phase transition from a superfluid to an incompressible Mott glass. The transition can be tuned by changing the disorder distribution even with vanishing interactions. We derive the properties of the transition, which suggest that it is in the Kosterlitz-Thouless universality class.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.93.150402

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We study one-dimensional disordered bosons at large commensurate filling. Using a real space renormalization group approach, we find a new random fixed point which controls a phase transition from a superfluid to an incompressible Mott glass. The transition can be tuned by changing the disorder distribution even with vanishing interactions. We derive the properties of the transition, which suggest that it is in the Kosterlitz-Thouless universality class.
We study the superfluid-insulator transition in a one-dimensional system of interacting bosons, modeled as a disordered Josephson array, using a strong-randomness real-space renormalization-group technique. Unlike perturbative methods, this approach does not suffer from run-away flows and allows us to study the complete phase diagram. We show that the superfluid-insulator transition is always Kosterlitz-Thouless like in the way that length and time scales diverge at the critical point. Interestingly however, we find that the transition at strong disorder occurs at a nonuniversal value of the Luttinger parameter, which depends on the disorder strength. This result places the transition in a universality class different from the weak disorder transition first analyzed by Giamarchi and Schulz [Europhys. Lett. 3, 1287 (1987)]. While the details of the disorder potential are unimportant at the critical point, the type of disorder does influence the properties of the insulating phases. We find three classes of insulators which arise for different classes of disorder potential. For disorder only in the charging energies and Josephson coupling constants, at integer filling we find an incompressible but gapless Mott-glass phase. If both integer and half-integer filling factors are allowed then the corresponding phase is a random-singlet insulator, which has a divergent compressibility. Finally in a generic disorder potential the insulator is a Bose glass with a finite compressibility.
We use renormalization-group theory to examine the quantum phase transitions upon exiting the insulating phase of a disordered, strongly interacting boson system. For weak disorder we find a direct transition from this Mott insulator to the superfluid phase. In d>4d>4d>4 a finite region around the particle-hole symmetric point supports this direct transition, whereas for 2< d<42<~d<42< d<4 perturbative arguments suggest that the direct transition survives only precisely at commensurate filling. For strong disorder the renormalization trajectories pass next to two fixed points, describing a pair of distinct transitions; first from the Mott insulator to the Bose glass, and then from the Bose glass to the superfluid. The latter fixed point possesses statistical particle-hole symmetry and a dynamical exponent zzz, equal to the dimension ddd.
We study the zero-temperature superfluid-insulator transition for a two-dimensional model of interacting, lattice bosons in the presence of quenched disorder and particle-hole symmetry. We follow the approach of a recent series of papers by Altman, Kafri, Polkovnikov, and Refael, in which the strong disorder renormalization group is used to study disordered bosons in one dimension. Adapting this method to two dimensions, we study several different species of disorder and uncover universal features of the superfluid-insulator transition. In particular, we locate an unstable finite disorder fixed point that governs the transition between the superfluid and a gapless, glassy insulator. We present numerical evidence that this glassy phase is the incompressible Mott glass and that the transition from this phase to the superfluid is driven by a percolation-type process. Finally, we provide estimates of the critical exponents governing this transition.
Using a strong disorder real-space renormalization group, we study the phase diagram of a fully disordered chain of interacting bosons. Since this approach does not suffer from runaway flows, it allows a direct study of the insulating phases, not accessible in a weak disorder perturbative treatment. We find that the universal properties of the insulating phase are determined by the details and symmetries of the on-site chemical-potential disorder. Three insulating phases are possible: (i) an incompressible Mott glass with a finite superfluid susceptibility, (ii) a random-singlet glass with diverging compressibility and superfluid susceptibility, (iii) a Bose glass with a finite compressibility but diverging superfluid susceptibility. In addition to characterizing the insulating phases, we show that the superfluid-insulator transition is always described by Kosterlitz-Thouless-like flows.
We present numerical evidence from Monte Carlo simulations that the superfluid-insulator quantum phase transition of interacting bosons subject to strong disorder in one dimension is controlled by the strong-randomness critical point. At this critical point the distribution of superfluid stiffness over disorder realizations develops a power-law tail reflecting a universal distribution of weak links. The Luttinger parameter on the other hand does not take on a universal value at this critical point, in marked contrast to the known Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless-like superfluid-insulator transition in weakly disordered systems. We develop a finite-size scaling procedure which allows us to directly compare the numerical results from systems of linear size up to 1024 sites with theoretical predictions obtained by Altman et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 150402 (2004)] using a strong disorder renormalization group approach. The data shows good agreement with the scaling expected at the strong-randomness critical point.