Alexander Mering

Analytic approximations to the phase diagram of the Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard model

We discuss analytic approximations to the ground-state phase diagram of the homogeneous JaynesCummings-Hubbard JCH Hamiltonian with general short-range hopping. The JCH model describes, e.g., radial phonon excitations of a linear chain of ions coupled to an external laser field tuned to the red motional sideband with Coulomb-mediated hopping or an array of high-Q coupled cavities containing a two-level atom and photons. Specifically, we consider the cases of a linear array of coupled cavities and a linear ion chain. We derive approximate analytic expressions for the boundaries between Mott-insulating and superfluid phases and give explicit expressions for the critical value of the hopping amplitude within the different approximation schemes. In the case of an array of cavities, which is represented by the standard JCH model, we compare both approximations to numerical data from density-matrix renormalization-group calculations.

Multi-band and nonlinear hopping corrections to the 3D Bose-Fermi-Hubbard model

Recent experiments revealed the importance of higher-band effects for the Mott-insulator(MI)-superfluid transition(SF) of ultracold bosonic atoms or mixtures of bosons and fermions in deep optical lattices [Best et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 030408 (2009); Will et al., Nature (London) 465, 197 (2010)]. In the present work we derive an effective lowest-band Hamiltonian in three dimensions that generalizes the standard Bose-Fermi-Hubbard model taking these effects as well as nonlinear corrections of the tunneling amplitudes mediated by interspecies interactions into account. It is shown that a correct description of the lattice states in terms of the bare-lattice Wannier functions, rather than approximations such as harmonic-oscillator states, is essential. In contrast to self-consistent approaches based on effective Wannier functions, our approach captures the observed reduction of the superfluid phase for repulsive interspecies interactions.

Ultracold bosons in disordered superlattices: Mott insulators induced by tunneling

We analyse the phase diagram of ultra-cold bosons in a one-dimensional superlattice potential with disorder using the time evolving block decimation algorithm for infinite sized systems (iTEBD). For degenerate potential energies within the unit cell of the superlattice loophole-shaped insulating phases with non-integer filling emerge with a particle-hole gap proportional to the boson hopping. Adding a small amount of disorder destroys this gap. For not too large disorder the loophole Mott regions detach from the axis of vanishing hopping giving rise to insulating islands. Thus the system shows a transition from a compressible Bose-glass to a Mott-insulating phase with increasing hopping amplitude. We present a straight forward effective model for the dynamics within a unit cell which provides a simple explanation for the emergence of Mott-insulating islands. In particular it gives rather accurate predictions for the inner critical point of the Bose-glass to Mott-insulator transition.

Fermion-mediated long-range interactions of bosons in the one-dimensional Bose-Fermi-Hubbard model

The ground-state phase diagram of mixtures of spin polarized fermions and bosons in a 1D periodic lattice is discussed in the limit of large fermion hopping and half filling of the fermions. Numerical simulations performed with the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) show in addition to bosonic Mott insulating (MI), superfluid (SF), and charge density-wave phases (CDW) a yet unreported phase with spatial separation of MI and CDW regions. We derive an effective bosonic theory which allows for a complete understanding and quantitative prediction of the bosonic phase diagram. In particular the origin of CDW phase and the MI-CDW phase separation is revealed as an effective fermion-mediated long-range interaction between bosons with alternating sign.