English

Competing exotic quantum phases of spin-$1/2$ ultra-cold lattice bosons with extended spin interactions

Quantum Gases 2015-08-14 v2

Abstract

Advances in pure optical trapping techniques now allow the creation of degenerate Bose gases with internal degrees of freedom. Systems such as 87{}^{87}Rb, 39^{39}K or 23{}^{23}Na in the F=1F=1 hyperfine state offer an ideal platform for studying the interplay of superfluidity and quantum magnetism. Motivated by the experimental developments, we study ground state phases of a two-component Bose gas loaded on an optical lattice. The system is described effectively by the Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian with onsite and near neighbor spin-spin interactions. An important feature of our investigation is the inclusion of interconversion (spin flip) terms between the two species, which has been observed in optical lattice experiments. Using mean-field theory and quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we map out the phase diagram of the system. A rich variety of phases is identified, including antiferromagnetic (AF) Mott insulators, ferromagnetic and AF superfluids.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1505.00722,
  title  = {Competing exotic quantum phases of spin-$1/2$ ultra-cold lattice bosons with extended spin interactions},
  author = {Chia-Chen Chang and Valéry G. Rousseau and Richard T. Scalettar and George G. Batrouni},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1505.00722},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

11 pages, 10 figures, revised version