In the present work we demonstrate how to realize a 1D closed optical lattice experimentally, including a tunable boundary phase twist. The latter may induce "persistent currents" visible by studying the atoms' momentum distribution. We show how important phenomena in 1D physics can be studied by physical realization of systems of trapped atoms in ring-shaped optical lattices. A mixture of bosonic and/or fermionic atoms can be loaded into the lattice, realizing a generic quantum system of many interacting particles.
In the present work we demonstrate how to realize a 1D closed optical lattice experimentally, including a tunable boundary phase twist. The latter may induce "persistent currents" visible by studying the atoms' momentum distribution. We show how important phenomena in 1D physics can be studied by physical realization of systems of trapped atoms in ring-shaped optical lattices. A mixture of bosonic and/or fermionic atoms can be loaded into the lattice, realizing a generic quantum system of many interacting particles.
We study an experimentally feasible qubit system employing neutral atomic currents. Our system is based on bosonic cold atoms trapped in ring-shaped optical lattice potentials. The lattice makes the system strictly one dimensional and it provides the infrastructure to realize a tunable ring-ring interaction. Our implementation combines the low decoherence rates of neutral cold atoms systems, overcoming single site addressing, with the robustness of topologically protected solid state Josephson flux qubits. Characteristic fluctuations in the magnetic fields affecting Josephson junction based flux qubits are expected to be minimized employing neutral atoms as flux carriers. By breaking the Galilean invariance we demonstrate how atomic currents through the lattice provide an implementation of a qubit. This is realized either by artificially creating a phase slip in a single ring, or by tunnel coupling of two homogeneous ring lattices. The single qubit infrastructure is experimentally investigated with tailored optical potentials. Indeed, we have experimentally realized scaled ring-lattice potentials that could host, in principle, n ~ 10 of such ring-qubits, arranged in a stack configuration, along the laser beam propagation axis. An experimentally viable scheme of the two-ring-qubit is discussed, as well. Based on our analysis, we provide protocols to initialize, address, and read-out the qubit.
A mixture of ultracold bosons and fermions placed in an optical lattice constitutes a novel kind of quantum gas, and leads to phenomena, which so far has been discussed neither in atomic physics, nor in condensed matter physics. We discuss the phase diagram at low temperatures, and in the limit of strong atom-atom interactions, and predict the existence of quantum phases that involve pairing of fermions with one or more bosons, or, respectively, bosonic holes. The resulting composite fermions may form, depending on the system parameters, a normal Fermi liquid, a density wave, a superfluid liquid, or an insulator with fermionic domains. We discuss the feasibility for observing such phases in current experiments.
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
The difference between boson and fermion dynamics in quasi-one-dimensional lattices is studied by calculating the persistent current in small quantum rings and by exact simulations of the time evolution of the many-particle state in two cases: expansion of a localized cloud and collisions in a Newton's cradle. We consider three different lattices which in the tight-binding model exhibit flat bands. The physical realization is considered to be an optical lattice with bosonic or fermionic atoms. The atoms are assumed to interact with a repulsive short-range interaction. The different statistics of bosons and fermions lead to different dynamics. Spinless fermions are easily trapped in the flat-band states due to the Pauli exclusion principle, which prevents them from interacting, while bosons are able to push each other out from the flat-band states.
Cold atoms in optical lattices offer an exciting new laboratory where quantum many-body phenomena can be realized in a highly controlled way. They can even serve as quantum simulators for notoriously difficult problems like high-temperature superconductivity. This review is focussed on the recent developments and new results in multi-component systems. Fermionic atoms with SU(N) symmetry have exotic superfluid and flavor-ordered ground states. We discuss symmetry breaking, collective modes, and detection issues, e.g. in Bragg scattering. On the other hand, bosonic multiflavor ensembles allow for engineering of spin Hamiltonians which are interesting from a quantum computation point of view. Finally, we address the role of disorder in optical lattices. Fermionic atoms experience Anderson localization at sufficiently strong disorder. Interactions among the atoms induce a competing tendency towards delocalization. We present a complete phase diagram obtained within dynamical mean-field theory and discuss experimental observability of the Mott and Anderson phases.
In this Thesis we study a paradigmatic experimental set up established for the study of quantum many-body system, namely ultracold atoms trapped in optical lattice. In particular, we consider interacting bosons placed into a periodic optical lattice generated by a set of counter-propagating laser beams that form a stationary electric potential. The work will be organized as follows: first, we consider the system Hamiltonian in the formalism of first quantization. We introduce the second quantization formalism in order to derive the Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian and study the proprieties of the system by doing a numerical analysis. Also, in this case we numerically study this system in order to gather informations about its proprieties.