First-order superfluid to Mott-insulator phase transitions in spinor condensates

ORAL

Abstract

We observe evidence of first-order superfluid to Mott-insulator quantum phase transitions in a lattice-confined antiferromagnetic spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. The observed signatures include hysteresis effect, significant heatings across the phase transitions, and evolutions of spin populations due to the formation of spin singlets in the Mott-insulator phase. The nature of the phase transitions is found to strongly depend on the ratio of the quadratic Zeeman energy to the spin-dependent interaction. Our observations are qualitatively understood by the mean field theory, and in addition suggest tuning the quadratic Zeeman energy is a new approach to realize superfluid to Mott-insulator phase transitions.

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Authors

  • Zihe Chen

    • Department of Physics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078

  • Jie Jiang

    • Department of Physics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078

  • Lichao Zhao

    • Department of Physics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078

  • Shengtao Wang

    • Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

  • Tao Tang

    • Department of Physics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078

  • Luming Duan

    • Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

  • Yingmei Liu

    • Department of Physics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078