English

Dissipation-induced symmetry breaking in a driven optical lattice

Statistical Mechanics 2009-11-11 v1 Other Condensed Matter

Abstract

We analyze the atomic dynamics in an ac driven periodic optical potential which is symmetric in both time and space. We experimentally demonstrate that in the presence of dissipation the symmetry is broken, and a current of atoms through the optical lattice is generated as a result.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0512553,
  title  = {Dissipation-induced symmetry breaking in a driven optical lattice},
  author = {R. Gommers and S. Bergamini and F. Renzoni},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0512553},
  year   = {2009}
}