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Quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator in a gas of ultracold atoms

Author

Listed:
  • Markus Greiner

    (Sektion Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
    Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik)

  • Olaf Mandel

    (Sektion Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
    Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik)

  • Tilman Esslinger

    (Quantenelektronik, ETH Zürich)

  • Theodor W. Hänsch

    (Sektion Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
    Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik)

  • Immanuel Bloch

    (Sektion Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
    Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik)

Abstract

For a system at a temperature of absolute zero, all thermal fluctuations are frozen out, while quantum fluctuations prevail. These microscopic quantum fluctuations can induce a macroscopic phase transition in the ground state of a many-body system when the relative strength of two competing energy terms is varied across a critical value. Here we observe such a quantum phase transition in a Bose–Einstein condensate with repulsive interactions, held in a three-dimensional optical lattice potential. As the potential depth of the lattice is increased, a transition is observed from a superfluid to a Mott insulator phase. In the superfluid phase, each atom is spread out over the entire lattice, with long-range phase coherence. But in the insulating phase, exact numbers of atoms are localized at individual lattice sites, with no phase coherence across the lattice; this phase is characterized by a gap in the excitation spectrum. We can induce reversible changes between the two ground states of the system.

Suggested Citation

  • Markus Greiner & Olaf Mandel & Tilman Esslinger & Theodor W. Hänsch & Immanuel Bloch, 2002. "Quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator in a gas of ultracold atoms," Nature, Nature, vol. 415(6867), pages 39-44, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:415:y:2002:i:6867:d:10.1038_415039a
    DOI: 10.1038/415039a
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    Cited by:

    1. Barrios, Alan J. & Valdés-Hernández, Andrea & Sevilla, Francisco J., 2022. "Dynamics of mode entanglement induced by particle-tunneling in the extended Bose–Hubbard dimer model," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 600(C).
    2. Shi, Zeyun & Badshah, Fazal & Qin, Lu & Zhou, Yuan & Huang, Haibo & Zhang, Yong-Chang, 2023. "Spatially modulated control of pattern formation in a general nonlocal nonlinear system," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 175(P1).
    3. Jiang, Xunda & Zeng, Yue & Ji, Yikai & Liu, Bin & Qin, Xizhou & Li, Yongyao, 2022. "Vortex formation and quench dynamics of rotating quantum droplets," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    4. Liu, Xiuye & Zeng, Jianhua, 2023. "Matter-wave gap solitons and vortices of dense Bose–Einstein condensates in Moiré optical lattices," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    5. Yoshito Watanabe & Atsushi Miyake & Masaki Gen & Yuta Mizukami & Kenichiro Hashimoto & Takasada Shibauchi & Akihiko Ikeda & Masashi Tokunaga & Takashi Kurumaji & Yusuke Tokunaga & Taka-hisa Arima, 2023. "Double dome structure of the Bose–Einstein condensation in diluted S = 3/2 quantum magnets," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    6. Meng, Hongjuan & Zhou, Yushan & Li, Xiaolin & Ren, Xueping & Wan, Xiaohuan & Zhou, Zhikun & Wang, Wenyuan & Shi, Yuren, 2021. "Gap solitons in Bose–Einstein condensate loaded in a honeycomb optical lattice: Nonlinear dynamical stability, tunneling, and self-trapping," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 577(C).
    7. Tao Chen & Chenxi Huang & Ivan Velkovsky & Kaden R. A. Hazzard & Jacob P. Covey & Bryce Gadway, 2024. "Strongly interacting Rydberg atoms in synthetic dimensions with a magnetic flux," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    8. Rizzatti, Eduardo Osório & Gomes Filho, Márcio Sampaio & Malard, Mariana & Barbosa, Marco Aurélio A., 2019. "Waterlike anomalies in the Bose–Hubbard model," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 518(C), pages 323-330.
    9. Beini Gao & Daniel G. Suárez-Forero & Supratik Sarkar & Tsung-Sheng Huang & Deric Session & Mahmoud Jalali Mehrabad & Ruihao Ni & Ming Xie & Pranshoo Upadhyay & Jonathan Vannucci & Sunil Mittal & Kenj, 2024. "Excitonic Mott insulator in a Bose-Fermi-Hubbard system of moiré WS2/WSe2 heterobilayer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    10. Mieck, B., 2003. "Functional integral and transfer-matrix approach for 1D bosonic many-body systems with a contact potential," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 325(3), pages 439-454.
    11. Liu, Xiuye & Zeng, Jianhua, 2022. "Overcoming the snaking instability and nucleation of dark solitons in nonlinear Kerr media by spatially inhomogeneous defocusing nonlinearity," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).

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