Observation of Subdiffusion in a Disordered Interacting System

2010/11/30 by E. Lucioni, B. Deissler, Luca Tanzi +11 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Anderson localization #Atom (system on chip) #Bose–Einstein condensate #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Condensed matter physics #Lattice (music) #Matter wave #Nonlinear Photonic Systems #Nonlinear system #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum #Quantum mechanics #Quasiperiodic function #Statistical physics #cond-mat.dis-nn #cond-mat.quant-gas #quant-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.106.230403

published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 230403 (2011) · 8 pages, to be published on Physical Review Letters

arxiv created 2011/05/19 · openalex publication_date 2011/06/08 · arxiv updated 2015/02/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We study the transport dynamics of matter-waves in the presence of disorder and nonlinearity. An atomic Bose-Einstein condensate that is localized in a quasiperiodic lattice in the absence of atom-atom interaction shows instead a slow expansion with a subdiffusive behavior when a controlled repulsive interaction is added. The measured features of the subdiffusion are compared to numerical simulations and a heuristic model. The observations confirm the nature of subdiffusion as interaction-assisted hopping between localized states and highlight a role of the spatial correlation of the disorder.

Citations

• Delocalization of wave packets in disordered nonlinear chains
• Quasiparticle Lifetime in a Finite System: A Nonperturbative Approach
• Destruction of Anderson Localization by a Weak Nonlinearity
• Nature of the superconductor–insulator transition in disordered superconductors
• Quasiperiodic Bose-Hubbard model and localization in one-dimensional cold atomic gases

Cited by

• Engineering interband transport by time-dependent disorder
• Coherent multiple scattering of out-of-equilibrium interacting Bose gases