Formation of Spatial Shell Structure in the Superfluid to Mott Insulator Transition

2006/06/23 by Simon Foelling, Simon Fölling, Artur Widera +4 · 19 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #cond-mat.other

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.97.060403

published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 060403 (2006)

arxiv created 2006/06/23 · openalex publication_date 2006/08/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We report on the direct observation of the transition from a compressible superfluid to an incompressible Mott insulator by recording the in-trap density distribution of a Bosonic quantum gas in an optical lattice. Using spatially selective microwave transitions and spin-changing collisions, we are able to locally modify the spin state of the trapped quantum gas and record the spatial distribution of lattice sites with different filling factors. As the system evolves from a superfluid to a Mott insulator, we observe the formation of a distinct shell structure, in good agreement with theory.

Citations

• Resonant control of spin dynamics in ultracold quantum gases by microwave dressing
• Dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices

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• Many-body physics with ultracold gases
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• The physics of dipolar bosonic quantum gases
• Finite-momentum superfluidity and phase transitions in ap-wave resonant Bose gas
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