arXiv subjects

Walter Hofstetter

Publications and source records attributed to Walter Hofstetter.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Phase transitions of the coherently coupled two-component Bose gas in a square optical lattice

We investigate properties of an ultracold, two-component bosonic gas in a square optical lattice at unit filling. In addition to density-density interactions, the atoms are subject to coherent light-matter interactions that couple different internal states. We examine the influence of this coherent coupling on the system and its quantum phases by using Gutzwiller mean field theory as well as bosonic dynamical mean field theory. We find that the interplay of strong inter-species repulsion and coherent coupling affects the Mott insulator to superfluid transition and shifts the tip of the Mott lobe toward higher values of the tunneling amplitude. In the strongly interacting Mott regime, the resulting Bose-Hubbard model can be mapped onto an effective spin Hamiltonian that offers additional insights into the observed phenomena.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

The infinite occupation number basis of bosons - solving a numerical challenge

In any bosonic lattice system, which is not dominated by local interactions and thus "frozen" in a Mott-type state, numerical methods have to cope with the infinite size of the corresponding Hilbert space even for finite lattice sizes. While it is common practice to restrict the local occupation number basis to $N_c$ lowest occupied states, the presence of a finite condensate fraction requires the complete number basis for an exact representation of the many-body ground state. In this work we present a novel truncation scheme to account for contributions from higher number states. By simply adding a single \textit{coherent-tail} state to this common truncation, we demonstrate increased numerical accuracy and the possible increase in numerical efficiency of this method for the Gutzwiller variational wave function and within dynamical mean-field theory.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Condensation versus Long-range Interaction: Competing Quantum Phases in Bosonic Optical Lattice Systems at Near-resonant Rydberg Dressing

Recent experiments have shown that (quasi-)crystalline phases of Rydberg-dressed quantum many-body systems in optical lattices (OL) are within reach. Rydberg systems naturally possess strong long-range interactions due to the large polarizability of Rydberg atoms. Thus a wide range of quantum phases have been predicted, such as a devil's staircase of lattice incommensurate density wave phases as well as more exotic lattice supersolid order for bosonic systems, as considered in our work. Guided by results in the "frozen" gas limit, we study the ground state phase diagram at finite hopping amplitudes and in the vicinity of resonant Rydberg driving, while fully including the long-range tail of the van der Waals interaction. Simulations within real-space bosonic dynamical mean-field theory (RB-DMFT) yield an extension of the devil's staircase into the supersolid regime where the competition of condensation and interaction leads to a sequence of crystalline phases.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Interaction-Induced Topological and Magnetic Phases in the Hofstadter-Hubbard Model

Interaction effects have been a subject of contemporary interest in topological phases of matter. But in the presence of interactions, the accurate determination of topological invariants in their general form is difficult due to their dependence on multiple integrals containing Green's functions and their derivatives. Here we employ the recently proposed "effective topological Hamiltonian" approach to explore interaction-induced topological phases in the time-reversal-invariant Hofstadter-Hubbard model. Within this approach, the zero-frequency part of the self-energy is sufficient to determine the correct topological invariant. We combine the topological Hamiltonian approach with the local self-energy approximation, both for the static and the full dynamical self-energy evaluated using dynamical mean field theory (DMFT), and present the resulting phase diagram in the presence of many-body interactions. We investigate the emergence of quantum spin Hall (QSH) states for different interaction strengths by calculating the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ invariant. The interplay of strong correlations and a staggered potential also induces magnetic long-range order with an associated first order transition. We present results for the staggered magnetization ( $m_s$ ), staggered occupancy ( $n_s$ ), and double occupancy across the transition.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2016

Operator-based derivation of phonon modes and characterization of correlations for trapped ions at zero and finite temperature

We present a self-contained operator-based approach to derive the spectrum of trapped ions. This approach provides the complete normal form of the low energy quadratic Hamiltonian in terms of bosonic phonons, as well as an effective free particle degree of freedom for each spontaneously broken spatial symmetry. We demonstrate how this formalism can directly be used to characterize an ion chain both in the linear and the zigzag regimes. In particular we compute, both for the ground state and finite temperature states, spatial correlations, heat capacity and dynamical susceptibility. Last, for the ground state which has quantum correlations, we analyze the amount of energy reduction compared to an uncorrelated state with minimum energy, thus highlighting how the system can lower its energy by correlations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Photonic currents in driven and dissipative resonator lattices

Arrays of coupled photonic cavities driven by external lasers represent a highly controllable setup to explore photonic transport. In this paper we address (quasi)-steady states of this system that exhibit photonic currents introduced by engineering driving and dissipation. We investigate two approaches: in the first one, photonic currents arise as a consequence of a phase difference of applied lasers and in the second one, photons are injected locally and currents develop as they redistribute over the lattice. Effects of interactions are taken into account within a mean-field framework. In the first approach, we find that the current exhibits a resonant behavior with respect to the driving frequency. Weak interactions shift the resonant frequency toward higher values, while in the strongly interacting regime in our mean-field treatment the effect stems from multiphotonic resonances of a single driven cavity. For the second approach, we show that the overall lattice current can be controlled by incorporating few cavities with stronger dissipation rates into the system. These cavities serve as sinks for photonic currents and their effect is maximal at the onset of quantum Zeno dynamics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Cooling through quantum criticality and many-body effects in condensed matter and cold gases

This article reviews some recent developments for new cooling technologies in the fields of condensed matter physics and cold gases, both from an experimental and theoretical point of view. The main idea is to make use of distinct many-body interactions of the system to be cooled which can be some cooling stage or the material of interest itself, as is the case in cold gases. For condensed matter systems, we discuss magnetic cooling schemes based on a large magnetocaloric effect as a result of a nearby quantum phase transition and consider effects of geometrical frustration. For ultracold gases, we review many-body cooling techniques, such as spin-gradient and Pomeranchuk cooling, which can be applied in the presence of an optical lattice. We compare the cooling performance of these new techniques with that of conventional approaches and discuss state-of-the-art applications.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2015

Polaronic effects in one- and two-band quantum systems

In this work we study the formation and dynamics of polarons in a system with a few impurities in a lattice immersed in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). This system has been experimentally realized using ultracold atoms and optical lattices. Here we consider a two-band model for the impurity atoms, along with a Bogoliubov approximation for the BEC, with phonons coupled to impurities via both intra- and inter-band transitions. We decouple this Fröhlich-like term by an extended two-band Lang-Firsov polaron transformation using a variational method. The new effective Hamiltonian with two (polaron) bands differs from the original Hamiltonian by modified coherent transport, polaron energy shifts and induced long-range interaction. A Lindblad master equation approach is used to take into account residual incoherent coupling between polaron and bath. This polaronic treatment yields a renormalized inter-band relaxation rate compared to Fermi's Golden Rule. For a strongly coupled two-band Fröhlich Hamiltonian, the polaron is tightly dressed in each band and can not tunnel between them, leading to an inter-band self-trapping effect.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

Effects of anisotropy in simple lattice geometries on many-body properties of ultracold fermions in optical lattices

We study the effects of anisotropic hopping amplitudes on quantum phases of ultracold fermions in optical lattices described by the repulsive Fermi-Hubbard model. In particular, using dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) we investigate the dimensional crossover between the isotropic square and the isotropic cubic lattice. We analyze the phase transition from the antiferromagnetic to the paramagnetic state and observe a significant change in the critical temperature: Depending on the interaction strength, the anisotropy can lead to both a suppression or increase. We also investigate the localization properties of the system, such as the compressibility and double occupancy. Using the local density approximation in combination with DMFT we conclude that density profiles can be used to detect the mentioned anisotropy-driven transitions.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

Bose-Bose Mixtures with Synthetic Spin-Orbit Coupling in Optical Lattices

We investigate the ground state properties of Bose-Bose mixtures with Rashba-type spin-orbit (SO) coupling in a square lattice. The system displays rich physics from the deep Mott-insulator (MI) all the way to the superfluid (SF) regime. In the deep MI regime, novel spin-ordered phases arise due to the effective Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya type super-exchange interactions. By employing the non-perturbative Bosonic Dynamical Mean-Field-Theory (BDMFT), we numerically study and establish the stability of these magnetic phases against increasing hopping amplitude. We show that as hopping is increased across the MI to SF transition, exotic superfluid phases with magnetic textures emerge. In particular, we identify a new spin-spiral magnetic texture with spatial period 3 in the superfluid close to the MI-SF transition.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

Magnetic phase transitions of spin-1 ultracold bosons in a cubic optical lattice

We investigate strongly correlated spin-1 ultracold bosons with antiferromagnetic interactions in a cubic optical lattice, based on bosonic dynamical mean-field theory. Rich phase diagrams of the system are mapped out at both zero and finite temperature, and in particular the existence of a spin-singlet condensate is established. Interestingly, at finite temperature, we find that the superfluid can be heated into a Mott insulator with even (odd) filling via a first- (second-) order phase transition, analogous to the Pomeranchuk effect in $^{3}$He. Moreover, for typical experimental setups, we estimate the critical temperatures for different ordered phases and our results suggest that direct experimental observation of these phases is promising.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

Chiral Bosonic Phases on the Haldane Honeycomb Lattice

Recent experiments in ultracold atoms and photonic analogs have reported the implementation of artificial gauge fields in lattice systems, facilitating the realization of topological phases. Motivated by such advances, we investigate the Haldane honeycomb lattice tight-binding model, for bosons with local interactions at the average filling of one boson per site. We analyze the ground state phase diagram and uncover three distinct phases: a uniform superfluid (SF), a chiral superfluid (CSF) and a plaquette Mott insulator with local current loops (PMI). Nearest-neighbor and next-nearest neighbor currents distinguish CSF from SF, and the phase transition between them is first order. We apply bosonic dynamical mean field theory and exact diagonalization to obtain the phase diagram, complementing numerics with calculations of excitation spectra in strong and weak coupling perturbation theory. The characteristic density fluctuations, current correlation functions, and excitation spectra are measurable in ultracold atom experiments.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Magnetic ordering of three-component ultracold fermionic mixtures in optical lattices

We study finite-temperature magnetic phases of three-component mixtures of ultracold fermions with repulsive interactions in optical lattices with simple cubic or square geometry by means of dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT). We focus on the case of one particle per site (1/3 band filling) at moderate interaction strength, where we observe a sequence of thermal phase transitions into two- and three-sublattice ordered states by means of the unrestricted real-space generalization of DMFT. From our quantitative analysis we conclude that long-range ordering in three-component mixtures should be observable at comparable temperatures as in two-component mixtures.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Dissipation through localised loss in bosonic systems with long-range interactions

In recent years, controlled dissipation has proven to be a useful tool for probing of a quantum system in the ultracold setup. In this paper we consider dynamics of bosons induced by a dissipative local defect. We address superfluid and supersolid phases close to half-filling that are ground states of an extended Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian. To this end, we solve the master equation using the Gutzwiller approximation and find that in the superfluid phase repulsive nearest neighbour interactions can lead to enhanced dissipation processes. On the other hand, our mean-field approach indicates that the effective loss rates are significantly suppressed deep in the supersolid phase where repulsive nearest neighbour interactions play a dominant role. Our numerical results are explained by analytical arguments and in particular, in the limit of strong dissipation we recover the quantum Zeno effect.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Quasi-Particle Theory for the Higgs Amplitude Mode

We present a generalized quasi-particle theory for bosonic lattice systems, which naturally contains all relevant collective modes, including the Higgs amplitude in the strongly correlated superfluid. In contrast to Bogoliubov theory, this non-perturbative method does not rely on a small condensate depletion and is valid for any interaction strength in three spatial dimensions. It is based on an expansion around the bosonic Gutzwiller ground state in terms of appropriately chosen fluctuation operators and lays the foundation for the description of real-time dynamics in terms of the natural, weakly interacting quasi-particles. Furthermore, it provides a systematic framework for efficiently calculating observables beyond the Gutzwiller approximation and for including external perturbations, as well as higher order decay and interactions in terms of quasi-particle operators. It allows for the construction of an alternative path integral approach in terms of quasi-particle coherent states.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2013

Artificial graphene with tunable interactions

We create an artificial graphene system with tunable interactions and study the crossover from metallic to Mott insulating regimes, both in isolated and coupled two-dimensional honeycomb layers. The artificial graphene consists of a two-component spin mixture of an ultracold atomic Fermi gas loaded into a hexagonal optical lattice. For strong repulsive interactions we observe a suppression of double occupancy and measure a gapped excitation spectrum. We present a quantitative comparison between our measurements and theory, making use of a novel numerical method to obtain Wannier functions for complex lattice structures. Extending our studies to time-resolved measurements, we investigate the equilibration of the double occupancy as a function of lattice loading time.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2013

Bosonic Dynamical Mean-Field Theory

We derive the Bosonic Dynamical Mean-Field equations for bosonic atoms in optical lattices with arbitrary lattice geometry. The equations are presented as a systematic expansion in 1/z, z being the number of lattice neighbors. Hence the theory is applicable in sufficiently high dimensional lattices. We apply the method to a two-component mixture, for which a rich phase diagram with spin-order is revealed.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2013

Correlated Topological Phases and Exotic Magnetism with Ultracold Fermions

Motivated by the recent progress in engineering artificial non-Abelian gauge fields for ultracold fermions in optical lattices, we investigate the time-reversal-invariant Hofstadter-Hubbard model. We include an additional staggered lattice potential and an artificial Rashba--type spin-orbit coupling term available in experiment. Without interactions, the system can be either a (semi)-metal, a normal or a topological insulator, and we present the non-Abelian generalization of the Hofstadter butterfly. Using a combination of real-space dynamical mean-field theory (RDMFT), analytical arguments, and Monte-Carlo simulations we study the effect of strong on-site interactions. We determine the interacting phase diagram, and discuss a scenario of an interaction-induced transition from normal to topological insulator. At half-filling and large interactions, the system is described by a quantum spin Hamiltonian, which exhibits exotic magnetic order due to the interplay of Rashba--type spin-orbit coupling and the artificial time-reversal-invariant magnetic field term. We determine the magnetic phase diagram: both for the itinerant model using RDMFT and for the corresponding spin model in the classical limit using Monte-Carlo simulations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗