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| Quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator in a gas of ultracold atoms |
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| Author(s): Greiner M, Mandel O, Esslinger T, Hansch TW, Bloch I |
| Source: NATURE Volume: 415 Issue: 6867 Pages: 39-44 Published: JAN 3 2002 |
| Times Cited: 1,848 References: 26 |
| Abstract: For a system at a temperature of absolute zero, all thermal fluctuations are frozen out, while quantum fluctuations prevail. These microscopic quantum fluctuations can induce a macroscopic phase transition in the ground state of a many-body system when the relative strength of two competing energy terms is varied across a critical value. Here we observe such a quantum phase transition in a Bose-Einstein condensate with repulsive interactions, held in a three-dimensional optical lattice potential. As the potential depth of the lattice is increased, a transition is observed from a superfluid to a Mott insulator phase. In the superfluid phase, each atom is spread out over the entire lattice, with long-range phase coherence. But in the insulating phase, exact numbers of atoms are localized at individual lattice sites, with no phase coherence across the lattice; this phase is characterized by a gap in the excitation spectrum. We can induce reversible changes between the two ground states of the system. |
| Document Type: Article |
| Language: English |
| Reprint Address: Bloch, I (reprint author), Univ Munich, Sekt Phys, Schellingstr 4-III, D-80799 Munich, Germany |
Addresses:
1. Max Planck Inst Quantum Opt, D-85748 Garching, Germany
2. Univ Munich, Sekt Phys, D-80799 Munich, Germany
3. ETH Zurich, Quantenelektron, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland |
| Publisher: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP, MACMILLAN BUILDING, 4 CRINAN ST, LONDON N1 9XW, ENGLAND |
| Subject Category: Multidisciplinary Sciences |
| IDS Number: 507KZ |
| ISSN: 0028-0836 |
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