Flat Bands and Wigner Crystallization in the Honeycomb Optical Lattice

Congjun Wu, Doron Bergman, Leon Balents, and S. Das Sarma
Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 070401 – Published 16 August 2007

Abstract

We study the ground states of cold atoms in the tight-binding bands built from p orbitals on a two dimensional honeycomb optical lattice. The band structure includes two completely flat bands. Exact many-body ground states with on-site repulsion can be found at low particle densities, for both fermions and bosons. We find crystalline order at n=16 with a 3×3 structure breaking a number of discrete lattice symmetries. In fermionic systems, if the repulsion is strong enough, we find the bonding strength becomes dimerized at n=12. Experimental signatures of crystalline order can be detected through the noise correlations in time of flight experiments.

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  • Received 8 February 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.070401

©2007 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Congjun Wu1,2, Doron Bergman3, Leon Balents3, and S. Das Sarma4

  • 1Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, California 92093, USA
  • 3Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
  • 4Condensed Matter Theory Center, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA

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Issue

Vol. 99, Iss. 7 — 17 August 2007

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