Feshbach-Stabilized Insulator of Bosons in Optical Lattices

Abstract

Feshbach resonances - namely resonances between an unbound two-body state (atomic state) and a bound (molecular) state, differing in magnetic moment - are a unique tool to tune the interaction properties of ultracold atoms. Here we show that the spin-changing interactions, coherently coupling the atomic and molecular state, can act as a novel mechanism to stabilize an insulating phase - the Feshbach insulator - for bosons in an optical lattice close to a narrow Feshbach resonance. Making use of quantum Monte Carlo simulations and mean-field theory, we show that the Feshbach insulator appears around the resonance, preventing the system from collapsing when the effective atomic scattering length becomes negative. On the atomic side of the resonance, the transition from condensate to Feshbach insulator has a characteristic first-order nature, due to the simultaneous loss of coherence in the atomic and molecular components. These features appear clearly in the ground-state phase diagram of e.g. ${}^{87}$Rb around its 414 G resonance, and they are therefore directly amenable to experimental observation.

arXiv comment6 pages, 4 figures + Supplementary Material

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• Multiple Transitions of Coupled Atom-Molecule Bosonic Mixtures in Two Dimensions
• Properties of the single-site reduced density matrix in the Bose-Bose resonance model in the ground state and in quantum quenches
• Spin dynamics dominated by superexchange via virtual molecules
• Phase transitions of the coherently coupled two-component Bose gas in a square optical lattice
• Phase Diagrams of Antiferromagnetic Spin-1 Bosons on Square Optical Lattice with the Quadratic Zeeman Effect
• Quantum and Thermal Phase Transitions in a Bosonic Atom-Molecule Mixture in a Two-dimensional Optical Lattice
• Hybrid atom-molecule quantum walks in one-dimensional optical lattice