Tunable Wigner States with Dipolar Atoms and Molecules
arXiv:1009.3119 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.255301
Abstract
We study the few-body physics of trapped atoms or molecules with electric or magnetic dipole moments aligned by an external field. Using exact numerical diagonalization appropriate for the strongly correlated regime, as well as a classical analysis, we show how Wigner localization emerges with increasing coupling strength. The Wigner states exhibit non-trivial geometries due to the anisotropy of the interaction. This leads to transitions between different Wigner states as the tilt angle of the dipoles with the confining plane is changed. Intriguingly, while the individual Wigner states are well described by a classical analysis, the transitions between different Wigner states are strongly affected by quantum statistics. This can be understood by considering the interplay between quantum-mechanical and spatial symmetry properties. Finally, we demonstrate that our results are relevant to experimentally realistic systems.
4 pages, 6 figures
References in corpus (12)
- A High Phase-Space-Density Gas of Polar Molecules
- Strongly correlated 2D quantum phases with cold polar molecules: controlling the shape of the interaction potential
- Strong dipolar effects in a quantum ferrofluid
- Stabilizing a purely dipolar quantum gas against collapse
- Ultracold heteronuclear molecules in a 3D optical lattice
- Ultracold dense gas of deeply bound heteronuclear molecules
- Quantum phase transition in a two-dimensional system of dipoles
- Stable Topological Superfluid Phase of Ultracold Polar Fermionic Molecules
- Quantum phases of a Two-Dimensional Dipolar Fermi Gas
- A molecular state of correlated electrons in a quantum dot
- Spontaneous inhomogeneous phases in ultracold dipolar Fermi gases
- Strongly Correlated States of Ultracold Rotating Dipolar Fermi Gases