arXiv · 1708.01250
Band and correlated insulators of cold fermions in a mesoscopic lattice
Abstract
We investigate the transport properties of neutral, fermionic atoms passing through a one-dimensional quantum wire containing a mesoscopic lattice. The lattice is realized by projecting individually controlled, thin optical barriers on top of a ballistic conductor. Building an increasingly longer lattice, one site after another, we observe and characterize the emergence of a band insulating phase, demonstrating control over quantum-coherent transport. We explore the influence of atom-atom interactions and show that the insulating state persists as contact interactions are tuned from moderately to strongly attractive. Using bosonization and classical Monte-Carlo simulations we analyze such a model of interacting fermions and find good qualitative agreement with the data. The robustness of the insulating state supports the existence of a Luther-Emery liquid in the one-dimensional wire. Our work realizes a tunable, site-controlled lattice Fermi gas strongly coupled to reservoirs, which is an ideal test bed for non-equilibrium many-body physics.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Martin Lebrat, Pjotrs Grišins, Dominik Husmann, Samuel Häusler, Laura Corman, Thierry Giamarchi, Jean-Philippe Brantut, Tilman Esslinger. 2017-08-03. Band and correlated insulators of cold fermions in a mesoscopic lattice. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevx.8.011053
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.