2017/06/03 by Karla Loida, Jean-Sébastien Bernier, Jean-Sebastien Bernier +5
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Condensed Matter Physics #Bond length #Bond order #Bosonization #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Condensed matter physics #Fermion #Hubbard model #Ion #Ionic bonding #Ising model #Materials science #Mott insulator #Physics #Quantum many-body systems #Quantum mechanics #Superconductivity #Superlattice #cond-mat.quant-gas #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.119.230403
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 230403 (2017) · 4 pages + references, 3 figures
arxiv created 2017/06/03 · openalex publication_date 2017/12/06 · arxiv updated 2017/12/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
An exotic phase, the bond order wave, characterized by the spontaneous dimerization of the hopping, has been predicted to exist sandwiched between the band and Mott insulators in systems described by the ionic Hubbard model. Despite growing theoretical evidence, this phase still evades experimental detection. Given the recent realization of the ionic Hubbard model in ultracold atomic gases, we propose here to detect the bond order wave using superlattice modulation spectroscopy. We demonstrate, with the help of time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group and bosonization, that this spectroscopic approach reveals characteristics of both the Ising and Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions signaling the presence of the bond order wave phase. This scheme also provides insights into the excitation spectra of both the band and Mott insulators.