Work

Ultracold Atoms in a Disordered Crystal of Light: Towards a Bose Glass

Year: 2007

Type: article

Abstract: We use a bichromatic optical lattice to experimentally realize a disordered system of ultracold strongly interacting 87Rb bosons. In the absence of disorder, the atoms are pinned by repulsive interactions in the sites of an ideal optical crystal, forming one-dimensional Mott-insulator states. We measure the excitation spectrum of the system as a function of disorder strength and characterize its phase-coherence properties with a time-of-flight technique. Increasing disorder, we observe a broadening of the Mott-insulator resonances and the transition to a state with vanishing long-range phase coherence and a flat density of excitations, which suggest the formation of a Bose-glass phase.

Source: Physical Review Letters

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.98.130404

Authors: L. Fallani, J. E. Lye, V. Guarrera, C. Fort, M. Inguscio

Institutions: European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy, University of Florence

Language: English

Topic: Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca

Awards: G169496968, G997189677