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

arXiv:cond-mat/0503452 · Physical Review Letters

Phase Coherence of an Atomic Mott Insulator

Fabrice Gerbier, Artur Widera, Simon Fölling, Olaf Mandel, Tatjana Gericke, Immanuel Bloch

Published Jul 28, 2005• 187 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We investigate the phase coherence properties of ultracold Bose gases in optical lattices, with special emphasis on the Mott insulating phase. We show that phase coherence on short length scales persists even deep in the insulating phase, preserving a finite visibility of the interference pattern observed after free expansion. This behavior can be attributed to a coherent admixture of particle-hole pairs to the perfect Mott state for small but finite tunneling. In addition, small but reproducible kinks are seen in the visibility, in a broad range of atom numbers. We interpret them as signatures for density redistribution in the shell structure of the trapped Mott insulator.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.95.050404

Related papers

Interference pattern and visibility of a Mott insulator

Fabrice Gerbier, Artur Widera, Simon Fölling +3 more

We analyze theoretically the experiment reported in [F. Gerbier et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 050404 (2005)]. There, the interference pattern produced by an expanding atomic cloud in the Mott insulator regime was observed, indicative of short-range coherence in the system. The latter was traced back to the presence of a small amount of particle-hole pairs in the insulating phase for finite lattice depths. We analyze the influence of these pairs on the interference pattern using a random phase approximation, and derive the corresponding visibility. We also account for the inhomogeneity inherent to atom traps in a local density approximation. The calculations reproduce the experimental observations, except for very large lattice depths. The deviation from the measurement in this range is attributed to the increasing importance of nonadiabatic effects.

arXiv:cond-mat/0507087•Physical Review A•Nov 4, 2005•151 citations

Phase Coherence, Visibility, and the Superfluid–Mott-Insulator Transition on One-Dimensional Optical Lattices

Pinaki Sengupta, Marcos Rigol, G. G. Batrouni +2 more

We study the phase coherence and visibility of trapped atomic condensates on one-dimensional optical lattices, by means of quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We obtain structures in the visibility similar to the kinks recently observed experimentally by Gerbier et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 050404 (2005); 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.050404cond-mat/0507087]. We examine these features in detail and offer a connection to the evolution of the density profiles as the depth of the lattice is increased. Our simulations reveal that, as the interaction strength U is increased, the evolution of superfluid and Mott-insulating domains stall for finite intervals of U. The density profiles do not change with increasing U. We show here that in one dimension the visibility provides unequivocal signatures of the melting of Mott domains with densities larger than 1.

arXiv:cond-mat/0509560•Physical Review Letters•Nov 22, 2005•28 citations

Superfluidity and interference pattern of ultracold bosons in optical lattices

Robert Roth, Keith R. Burnett

We present a study of the superfluid properties of atomic Bose gases in optical lattice potentials using the Bose-Hubbard model. To do this, we use a microscopic definition of the superfluid fraction based on the response of the system to a phase variation imposed by means of twisted boundary conditions. We compare the superfluid fraction to other physical quantities, i.e., the interference pattern after ballistic expansion, the quasimomentum distribution, and number fluctuations. We have performed exact numerical calculations of all these quantities for small one-dimensional systems. We show that the superfluid fraction alone exhibits a clear signature of the Mott-insulator transition. Observables like the fringe visibility, which probe only ground-state properties, do not provide direct information on superfluidity and the Mott-insulator transition.

arXiv:cond-mat/0209066•Physical Review A•Mar 25, 2003•123 citations

Short-range coherence in a Bose atom Mott insulator

Yue Yu

We study the short-range coherence of ultracold lattice Bose gases in the Mott insulating phase. We calculate the visibility of the interference pattern and the results agree quantitatively with the recent experimental measurement [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 050404 (2005)]. The visibility deviation from the inversely linear dependence on the bare on-site interaction U_0 is explained both in smaller and larger U_0. For a smaller U_0, it comes from a second order correction. For a larger U_0, except the breakdown of adiabaticity as analyzed by Gerbier et al, there might be another source to cause this deviation, which is the diversity between $U_0$ determined by the single atom Wannier function and the effective on site interaction U_eff for a multi-occupation per site.

arXiv:cond-mat/0505181•May 9, 2005•1 citation

Phase Coherence of Strongly Interacting Bosons in One-Dimensional Optical Lattices

Rémy Vatré, Gianluca Morettini, J. Beugnon +3 more

Ultracold Bose gases in one-dimensional optical lattices constitute an important benchmark problem in the study of strongly interacting many-body quantum phases. Here we present a combined experimental and theoretical study of their phase-coherence properties over a wide range of lattice depths. Experimentally, we extract the single-particle correlation function directly from the measured momentum distribution. Theoretically, we perform tensor-network simulations of the Bose-Hubbard model that incorporate all relevant experimental parameters. For deep lattices well within the Mott insulator regime, the experimental results are in good agreement with the expected zero-temperature behavior, with only small temperature-dependent corrections. As the lattice depth is reduced, finite-temperature effects become increasingly important. We find that the experimental data are quantitatively described by an effective temperature extracted from the tensor-network simulations, and that this effective temperature decreases markedly with increasing lattice depth. Rather than indicating actual cooling, we interpret this behavior as evidence of inhibition of thermalization caused by the formation of Mott domains that suppress heat transport. Counterintuitively, the inhibition of thermalization favors the preparation of an effectively low-entropy quantum gas in the trap center for large lattice depths.

arXiv:2603.26118•Mar 27, 2026•0 citations

Superfluid-Mott-insulator transition in a one-dimensional optical lattice with double-well potentials

Hong‐Chen Jiang, Zheng-Yu Weng, Tao Xiang

We study the superfluid-Mott-insulator transition of ultracold bosonic atoms in a one-dimensional optical lattice with a double-well confining trap using the density-matrix renormalization group method. At low density, the system behaves similarly as two separated ones inside each well. At high density, however, interesting features appear resulting from the quantum tunnelling between the two wells and the competition between the ``superfluid'' and Mott regions. These interesting features are characterized by a rich step-plateau structure in the visibility and the satellite peaks in the momentum distribution function, with an oscillating pattern as a function of the on-site repulsion. These properties shed light on the understanding of the quantum phase coherence between two coupled condensates.

arXiv:cond-mat/0701290•Physical Review B•Dec 17, 2007•4 citations
We investigate the phase coherence properties of ultracold Bose gases in optical lattices, with special emphasis on the Mott insulating phase. We show that phase coherence on short length scales persists even deep in the insulating phase, preserving a finite visibility of the interference pattern observed after free expansion. This behavior can be attributed to a coherent admixture of particle-hole pairs to the perfect Mott state for small but finite tunneling. In addition, small but reproducible kinks are seen in the visibility, in a broad range of atom numbers. We interpret them as signatures for density redistribution in the shell structure of the trapped Mott insulator.
We analyze theoretically the experiment reported in [F. Gerbier et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 050404 (2005)]. There, the interference pattern produced by an expanding atomic cloud in the Mott insulator regime was observed, indicative of short-range coherence in the system. The latter was traced back to the presence of a small amount of particle-hole pairs in the insulating phase for finite lattice depths. We analyze the influence of these pairs on the interference pattern using a random phase approximation, and derive the corresponding visibility. We also account for the inhomogeneity inherent to atom traps in a local density approximation. The calculations reproduce the experimental observations, except for very large lattice depths. The deviation from the measurement in this range is attributed to the increasing importance of nonadiabatic effects.
We study the phase coherence and visibility of trapped atomic condensates on one-dimensional optical lattices, by means of quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We obtain structures in the visibility similar to the kinks recently observed experimentally by Gerbier et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 050404 (2005); 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.050404cond-mat/0507087]. We examine these features in detail and offer a connection to the evolution of the density profiles as the depth of the lattice is increased. Our simulations reveal that, as the interaction strength U is increased, the evolution of superfluid and Mott-insulating domains stall for finite intervals of U. The density profiles do not change with increasing U. We show here that in one dimension the visibility provides unequivocal signatures of the melting of Mott domains with densities larger than 1.
We present a study of the superfluid properties of atomic Bose gases in optical lattice potentials using the Bose-Hubbard model. To do this, we use a microscopic definition of the superfluid fraction based on the response of the system to a phase variation imposed by means of twisted boundary conditions. We compare the superfluid fraction to other physical quantities, i.e., the interference pattern after ballistic expansion, the quasimomentum distribution, and number fluctuations. We have performed exact numerical calculations of all these quantities for small one-dimensional systems. We show that the superfluid fraction alone exhibits a clear signature of the Mott-insulator transition. Observables like the fringe visibility, which probe only ground-state properties, do not provide direct information on superfluidity and the Mott-insulator transition.
We study the short-range coherence of ultracold lattice Bose gases in the Mott insulating phase. We calculate the visibility of the interference pattern and the results agree quantitatively with the recent experimental measurement [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 050404 (2005)]. The visibility deviation from the inversely linear dependence on the bare on-site interaction U_0 is explained both in smaller and larger U_0. For a smaller U_0, it comes from a second order correction. For a larger U_0, except the breakdown of adiabaticity as analyzed by Gerbier et al, there might be another source to cause this deviation, which is the diversity between U0U_0U0​ determined by the single atom Wannier function and the effective on site interaction U_eff for a multi-occupation per site.
Ultracold Bose gases in one-dimensional optical lattices constitute an important benchmark problem in the study of strongly interacting many-body quantum phases. Here we present a combined experimental and theoretical study of their phase-coherence properties over a wide range of lattice depths. Experimentally, we extract the single-particle correlation function directly from the measured momentum distribution. Theoretically, we perform tensor-network simulations of the Bose-Hubbard model that incorporate all relevant experimental parameters. For deep lattices well within the Mott insulator regime, the experimental results are in good agreement with the expected zero-temperature behavior, with only small temperature-dependent corrections. As the lattice depth is reduced, finite-temperature effects become increasingly important. We find that the experimental data are quantitatively described by an effective temperature extracted from the tensor-network simulations, and that this effective temperature decreases markedly with increasing lattice depth. Rather than indicating actual cooling, we interpret this behavior as evidence of inhibition of thermalization caused by the formation of Mott domains that suppress heat transport. Counterintuitively, the inhibition of thermalization favors the preparation of an effectively low-entropy quantum gas in the trap center for large lattice depths.
We study the superfluid-Mott-insulator transition of ultracold bosonic atoms in a one-dimensional optical lattice with a double-well confining trap using the density-matrix renormalization group method. At low density, the system behaves similarly as two separated ones inside each well. At high density, however, interesting features appear resulting from the quantum tunnelling between the two wells and the competition between the ``superfluid'' and Mott regions. These interesting features are characterized by a rich step-plateau structure in the visibility and the satellite peaks in the momentum distribution function, with an oscillating pattern as a function of the on-site repulsion. These properties shed light on the understanding of the quantum phase coherence between two coupled condensates.