Probing the Superfluid-to-Mott Insulator Transition at the Single-Atom Level
Probing the Superfluid-to-Mott Insulator Transition at the Single-Atom Level
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DOI：
10.1126/science.1192368
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发表时间：
2010-07-30
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
Greiner, M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bakr, W. S.;Peng, A.;Greiner, M.
光学晶格中的量子气体提供了一个机会，在一个干净的，可调的系统实验实现和探索凝聚态模型。我们利用单原子单晶格位成像技术在微观水平上研究了玻色-哈伯德模型。我们的技术能够在超流-莫特绝缘体量子相变中对数字统计进行空间和时间分辨的表征。站点分辨探测的波动为我们提供了一个敏感的本地温度计，使我们能够识别微观异质结构的低熵莫特域，并使我们能够测量本地量子动力学，揭示令人惊讶的快速过渡时间尺度。我们的结果可以作为量子动力学理论研究的基准，并可能指导工程的低熵相在晶格中。
Quantum gases in optical lattices offer an opportunity to experimentally realize and explore condensed matter models in a clean, tunable system. We used single atom-single lattice site imaging to investigate the Bose-Hubbard model on a microscopic level. Our technique enables space-and time-resolved characterization of the number statistics across the superfluid-Mott insulator quantum phase transition. Site-resolved probing of fluctuations provides us with a sensitive local thermometer, allows us to identify microscopic heterostructures of low-entropy Mott domains, and enables us to measure local quantum dynamics, revealing surprisingly fast transition time scales. Our results may serve as a benchmark for theoretical studies of quantum dynamics, and may guide the engineering of low-entropy phases in a lattice.