Interacting Hofstadter Spectrum of Atoms in an Artificial Gauge Field

Stephen Powell, Ryan Barnett, Rajdeep Sensarma, and Sankar Das Sarma
Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 255303 – Published 25 June 2010

Abstract

Motivated by experimental advances in the synthesis of gauge potentials for ultracold atoms, we consider the superfluid phase of interacting bosons on a square lattice in the presence of a magnetic field. We show that superfluid order implies spatial symmetry breaking, and predict clear signatures of many-body effects in time-of-flight measurements. By developing a Bogoliubov expansion based on the exact Hofstadter spectrum, we find the dispersion of the quasiparticle modes within the superfluid phase, and describe the consequences for Bragg spectroscopy measurements. The theory also provides an estimate of the critical interaction strength at the transition to the Mott insulator phase.

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  • Received 12 April 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.255303

©2010 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Stephen Powell, Ryan Barnett, Rajdeep Sensarma, and Sankar Das Sarma

  • Joint Quantum Institute and Condensed Matter Theory Center, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA

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Issue

Vol. 104, Iss. 25 — 25 June 2010

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