Tunneling density of states, pair correlation, and Josephson current in spin-incoherent Luttinger-liquid/superconductor hybrid systems

We study a hybrid system consisting of a spin-incoherent Luttinger liquid adjoined at one or both ends to a superconductor. We find that the tunneling density of states diverges at low energies and exhibits a universal frequency dependence independent of the strength of the interactions in the system. We show that in spite of exponentially decaying pair correlations with distance into the spin-incoherent Luttinger liquid, the Josephson current remains robust. Compared to the zero temperature Luttinger-liquid case, there is a factor of 2 reduction in the critical current and a halving of the period in the phase difference between the superconductors. We hope these results motivate a class of experiments in the spin-incoherent regime of one-dimensional systems

A Quantum Theory of Cold Bosonic Atoms in Optical Lattices

Ultracold atoms in optical lattices undergo a quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator as the lattice potential depth is increased. We describe an approximate theory of interacting bosons in optical lattices which provides a qualitative description of both superfluid and insulator states. The theory is based on a change of variables in which the boson coherent state amplitude is replaced by an effective potential which promotes phase coherence between different number states on each lattice site. It is illustrated here by applying it to uniform and fully frustrated lattice cases, but is simple enough that it can easily be applied to spatially inhomogeneous lattice systems

Junctions of Spin-Incoherent Luttinger Liquids with Ferromagnets and Superconductors

We discuss the properties of a strongly interacting spin-charge separated one dimensional system coupled to ferromagnets and/or superconductors. Our results are valid for arbitrary temperatures with respect to the spin energy, but require temperature be small compared to the charge energy. We focus mainly on the spin-incoherent regime where temperature is large compared to the spin energy, but small compared to the charge energy. In the case of a ferromagnet we study spin pumping and the renormalized dynamics of a precessing magnetic order parameter. We find the interaction-dependent temperature dependence of the spin pumping can be qualitatively different in the spin-incoherent regime from the Luttinger liquid regime, allowing an identification of the former. Likewise, the temperature dependence of the renormlized magnetization dynamics can be used to identify spin-incoherent physics. For the case of a spin-incoherent Luttinger liquid coupled to two superconductors, we compute the ac and dc Josephson current for a wire geometry in the limit of tunnel coupled superconductors. Both the ac and dc response contain "smoking gun" signatures that can be used to identify spin-incoherent behavior. Experimental requirements for the observation of these effects are laid out.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure

Strong correlations in bosons and fermions

textIf there is a general theme to this thesis, it is the effects of strong correlations in both bosons and fermions. The bosonic system considered here consists of ultracold alkali atoms trapped by interfering lasers, so called optical lattices. Strong interactions, realized by increasing the depth of the lattice potential, or through the phenomenon of Feshbach resonances induce strong correlations amongst the atoms, rendering attempts to describe the systems in terms of single particle type physics unsuccessful. Of course strong correlations are not the exclusive domain of bosons, and also are not caused only by strong interactions. Other factors such as reduced dimensionality, in one-dimensional electron gases, or strong magnetic fields, in two-dimensional electron gases are known to induce strong correlations. In this thesis, we explore the manifestations of strong correlations in ultracold atoms in optical lattices and interacting electron gases. Optical lattices provide a near-perfect realization of lattice models, such as the bosonic Hubbard model (BHM) that have been formulated to study solid state systems. This follows from the absence of defects or impurities that usually plague real solid state systems. Another novel feature of optical lattices is the unprecedented control experimenters have in tuning the different lattice parameters, such as the lattice spacing and the intensity of the lasers. This control enables one to study the model Hamiltonians over a wide range of variables, such as the interaction strength between the atoms, thereby opening the door towards the observation of diverse and interesting phenomena. The BHM, and also its variants, predict various quantum phases, such as the strongly correlated Mott insulator (MI) phase that appears as a function of the parameter t/U, the ratio of the nearest neighbor hopping amplitude to the on-site interaction, which one varies experimentally over a wide range of values simply by switching the intensity of the lasers. But as always, even in these designer-made "solid state" systems, practical considerations introduce complications that blur the theoretical interpretation of experimental results, such as inhomogeneities in the lattice structure. The first part of this thesis presents a quantum theory of ultracold bosonic atoms in optical lattices capable of describing the properties of the various phases and the transitions between them. Its usefulness, compared to other approaches, we believe rests in its broad applicability and in the relative ease it handles the complications while producing quantitatively accurate results.Physic