Quantum Capillary Waves at the Superfluid--Mott Insulator Interface

Abstract

We discuss quantum fluctuations of the interface between a superfluid and a Mott-insulating state of ultracold atoms in a trap. The fluctuations of the boundary are due to a new type of surface modes, whose spectrum is similar (but not identical) to classical capillary waves. The corresponding quantum capillary length sets the scale for the penetration of the superfluid into the Mott-insulating regime by the proximity effect and may be on the order of several lattice spacings. It determines the typical magnitude of the interface width due to quantum fluctuations, which may be inferred from single site imaging of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice.

published version + two additional references

References in corpus (7)

• Many-Body Physics with Ultracold Gases
• Quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator in a gas of ultracold atoms
• Single-Atom Resolved Fluorescence Imaging of an Atomic Mott Insulator
• Electric Field Control of the LaAlO${}_3$/SrTiO${}_3$ Interface Ground State
• Probing the Superfluid to Mott Insulator Transition at the Single Atom Level
• Mott insulator to superfluid transition in the Bose-Hubbard model: a strong-coupling approach
• Spin gradient demagnetization cooling of ultracold atoms

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Spontaneous Formation of Star-Shaped Surface Patterns in a Driven Bose-Einstein Condensate
• Non-equilibrium and non-homogeneous phenomena around a first-order quantum phase transition
• Wetting critical behavior in the quantum Ising model within the framework of Lindblad dissipative dynamics
• Quantum interface unbinding transitions