397 research outputs found
Exciting a d-density wave in an optical lattice with driven tunneling
Quantum phases with unusual symmetries may play a key role for the
understanding of solid state systems at low temperatures. We propose a
realistic scenario, well in reach of present experimental techniques, which
should permit to produce a stationary quantum state with -symmetry
in a two-dimensional bosonic optical square lattice. This state, characterized
by alternating rotational flux in each plaquette, arises from driven tunneling
implemented by a stimulated Raman scattering process. We discuss bosons in a
square lattice, however, more complex systems involving other lattice
geometries appear possible.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Artificial Staggered Magnetic Field for Ultracold Atoms in Optical Lattices
A time-dependent optical lattice with staggered particle current in the
tight-binding regime was considered that can be described by a time-independent
effective lattice model with an artificial staggered magnetic field. The low
energy description of a single-component fermion in this lattice at
half-filling is provided by two copies of ideal two-dimensional massless Dirac
fermions. The Dirac cones are generally anisotropic and can be tuned by the
external staggered flux \p. For bosons, the staggered flux modifies the
single-particle spectrum such that in the weak coupling limit, depending on the
flux \p, distinct superfluid phases are realized. Their properties are
discussed, the nature of the phase transitions between them is establised, and
Bogoliubov theory is used to determine their excitation spectra. Then the
generalized superfluid-Mott-insulator transition is studied in the presence of
the staggered flux and the complete phase diagram is established. Finally, the
momentum distribution of the distinct superfluid phases is obtained, which
provides a clear experimental signature of each phase in ballistic expansion
experiments.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure
Competing Superconducting States for Ultracold Atoms in Optical Lattices with Artificial Staggered Magnetic Field
We study superconductivity in an ultracold Bose-Fermi mixture loaded into a
square optical lattice subjected to a staggered flux. While the bosons form a
superfluid at very low temperature and weak interaction, the interacting
fermions experience an additional long-ranged attractive interaction mediated
by phonons in the bosonic superfluid. This leads us to consider a generalized
Hubbard model with on-site and nearest-neighbor attractive interactions, which
give rise to two competing superconducting channels. We use the
Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory to determine the regimes where distinct
superconducting ground states are stabilized, and find that the non-local
pairing channel favors a superconducting ground state which breaks both the
gauge and the lattice symmetries, thus realizing unconventional
superconductivity. Furthermore, the particular structure of the single-particle
spectrum leads to unexpected consequences, for example, a dome-shaped
superconducting region in the temperature versus filing fraction phase diagram,
with a normal phase that comprises much richer physics than a Fermi-liquid.
Notably, the relevant temperature regime and coupling strength is readily
accessible in state of the art experiments with ultracold trapped atoms
Interaction-induced chiral p_x \pm i p_y superfluid order of bosons in an optical lattice
The study of superconductivity with unconventional order is complicated in
condensed matter systems by their extensive complexity. Optical lattices with
their exceptional precision and control allow one to emulate superfluidity
avoiding many of the complications of condensed matter. A promising approach to
realize unconventional superfluid order is to employ orbital degrees of freedom
in higher Bloch bands. In recent work, indications were found that bosons
condensed in the second band of an optical chequerboard lattice might exhibit
p_x \pm i p_y order. Here we present experiments, which provide strong evidence
for the emergence of p_x \pm i p_y order driven by the interaction in the local
p-orbitals. We compare our observations with a multi-band Hubbard model and
find excellent quantitative agreement
Continuous loading of S calcium atoms into an optical dipole trap
We demonstrate an efficient scheme for continuous trap loading based upon
spatially selective optical pumping. We discuss the case of S
calcium atoms in an optical dipole trap (ODT), however, similar strategies
should be applicable to a wide range of atomic species. Our starting point is a
reservoir of moderately cold (K) metastable
P-atoms prepared by means of a magneto-optic trap (triplet-MOT). A
focused 532 nm laser beam produces a strongly elongated optical potential for
S-atoms with up to 350 K well depth. A weak focused laser beam
at 430 nm, carefully superimposed upon the ODT beam, selectively pumps the
P-atoms inside the capture volume to the singlet state, where they
are confined by the ODT. The triplet-MOT perpetually refills the capture volume
with P-atoms thus providing a continuous stream of cold atoms into
the ODT at a rate of s. Limited by evaporation loss, in 200 ms we
typically load atoms with an initial radial temperature of 85
K. After terminating the loading we observe evaporation during 50 ms
leaving us with atoms at radial temperatures close to 40 K and a
peak phase space density of . We point out that a
comparable scheme could be employed to load a dipole trap with
P-atoms.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Collective Sideband Cooling in an Optical Ring Cavity
We propose a cavity based laser cooling and trapping scheme, providing tight
confinement and cooling to very low temperatures, without degradation at high
particle densities. A bidirectionally pumped ring cavity builds up a resonantly
enhanced optical standing wave which acts to confine polarizable particles in
deep potential wells. The particle localization yields a coupling of the
degenerate travelling wave modes via coherent photon redistribution. This
induces a splitting of the cavity resonances with a high frequency component,
that is tuned to the anti-Stokes Raman sideband of the particles oscillating in
the potential wells, yielding cooling due to excess anti-Stokes scattering.
Tight confinement in the optical lattice together with the prediction, that
more than 50% of the trapped particles can be cooled into the motional ground
state, promise high phase space densities.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Orbital superfluidity in the -band of a bipartite optical square lattice
The successful emulation of the Hubbard model in optical lattices has
stimulated world wide efforts to extend their scope to also capture more
complex, incompletely understood scenarios of many-body physics. Unfortunately,
for bosons, Feynmans fundamental "no-node" theorem under very general
circumstances predicts a positive definite ground state wave function with
limited relevance for many-body systems of interest. A promising way around
Feynmans statement is to consider higher bands in optical lattices with more
than one dimension, where the orbital degree of freedom with its intrinsic
anisotropy due to multiple orbital orientations gives rise to a structural
diversity, highly relevant, for example, in the area of strongly correlated
electronic matter. In homogeneous two-dimensional optical lattices, lifetimes
of excited bands on the order of a hundred milliseconds are possible but the
tunneling dynamics appears not to support cross-dimensional coherence. Here we
report the first observation of a superfluid in the -band of a bipartite
optical square lattice with -orbits and -orbits arranged in a
chequerboard pattern. This permits us to establish full cross-dimensional
coherence with a life-time of several ten milliseconds. Depending on a small
adjustable anisotropy of the lattice, we can realize real-valued striped
superfluid order parameters with different orientations or a
complex-valued order parameter, which breaks time reversal
symmetry and resembles the -flux model proposed in the context of high
temperature superconductors. Our experiment opens up the realms of orbital
superfluids to investigations with optical lattice models.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Strongly Interacting Two-Dimensional Dirac Fermions
We show how strongly interacting two-dimensional Dirac fermions can be
realized with ultracold atoms in a two-dimensional optical square lattice with
an experimentally realistic, inherent gauge field, which breaks time-reversal
and inversion symmetries. We find remarkable phenomena in a temperature range
around a tenth of the Fermi-temperature, accessible with present experimental
techniques: at zero chemical potential, besides a conventional s-wave
superconducting phase, unconventional superconductivity with non-local bond
pairing arises. In a temperature versus doping phase diagram, the
unconventional superconducting phase exhibits a dome structure, reminiscent of
the phase diagram for high-temperature superconductors and heavy fermions.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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