Mainz 2017 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 29: Quantum Gases: Bosons IV

Q 29.3: Talk

Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 15:00–15:15, P 204

Density ordering dynamics at an insulator to insulator transition — •Lorenz Hruby, Nishant Dogra, Katrin Kröger, Manuele Landini, Tobias Donner, and Tilman Esslinger — Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland

Engineering of open quantum many-body systems allows for new insights into the dynamics of complex quantum phases. Here we experimentally explore the phase transition between two insulating phases of Mott type with different density ordering. The transition is driven by competing on-site and global-range interactions. We monitor the temporal dynamics of the density order parameter in real-time and we observe a hysteresis loop and the emergence of two distinct timescales in the ordering dynamics. We explain our findings using a mean-field approach featuring metastable many-body states. Our system is based on a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a three-dimensional optical lattice which controls the on-site interaction strength. Tunable atom-atom interactions of global-range are mediated by coupling the condensate to a single mode of an optical cavity.