Hannover 2016 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 36: Quantum Gases: Bosons IV

Q 36.7: Talk

Wednesday, March 2, 2016, 16:00–16:15, e001

Quantum phases emerging from competing short- and long-range interactions in an optical lattice — •Lorenz Hruby, Renate Landig, Nishant Dogra, Manuele Landini, Rafael Mottl, Tobias Donner, and Tilman Esslinger — Quantumoptics group, Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

We experimentally realize a bosonic lattice model with competing short- and infinite-range interactions, and observe the appearance of four distinct phases - a superfluid, a supersolid, a Mott insulator and a charge density wave. Our system is based on a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in an optical lattice inside a high Finesse optical cavity. The strength of the short-ranged on-site interactions is controlled by means of the optical lattice depth. The infinite-range interaction potential is mediated by a vacuum mode of the cavity and is independently controlled by tuning the cavity resonance. When probing the phase transition between the Mott insulator and the charge density wave in real-time, we discovered a behavior characteristic of a first order phase transition.