Abstract
An atomic gas subject to a commensurate periodic potential generated by an optical lattice undergoes a superfluid-Mott insulator transition. Confining a strongly interacting gas to one dimension generates an instability where an arbitrary weak potential is sufficient to pin the atoms into the Mott state; here, we derive the corresponding phase diagram. The commensurate pinned state may be detected via its finite excitation gap and the Bragg peaks in the static structure factor.
- Received 22 May 2002
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.130401
©2003 American Physical Society