Phase-slip induced dissipation in an atomic Bose-Hubbard system

Abstract

Phase slips play a primary role in dissipation across a wide spectrum of bosonic systems, from determining the critical velocity of superfluid helium to generating resistance in thin superconducting wires. This subject has also inspired much technological interest, largely motivated by applications involving nanoscale superconducting circuit elements, e.g., standards based on quantum phase-slip junctions. While phase slips caused by thermal fluctuations at high temperatures are well understood, controversy remains over the role of phase slips in small-scale superconductors. In solids, problems such as uncontrolled noise sources and disorder complicate the study and application of phase slips. Here we show that phase slips can lead to dissipation for a clean and well-characterized Bose-Hubbard (BH) system by experimentally studying transport using ultra-cold atoms trapped in an optical lattice. In contrast to previous work, we explore a low velocity regime described by the 3D BH model which is not affected by instabilities, and we measure the effect of temperature on the dissipation strength. We show that the damping rate of atomic motion-the analogue of electrical resistance in a solid-in the confining parabolic potential fits well to a model that includes finite damping at zero temperature. The low-temperature behaviour is consistent with the theory of quantum tunnelling of phase slips, while at higher temperatures a cross-over consistent with the transition to thermal activation of phase slips is evident. Motion-induced features reminiscent of vortices and vortex rings associated with phase slips are also observed in time-of-flight imaging.Comment: published in Nature 453, 76 (2008