Bose-Einstein Condensates in Optical Lattices:
The Superfluid to Mott Insulator Phase Transition
byJongchul Mun
Submitted to the Department of Physics
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree ofDoctor of Philosophy
at theMASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYMay 2008
c Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2008. All rights reserved.

Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Department of Physics
May 23, 2008
Certified by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Wolfgang Ketterle
John D. MacAurther Professor of Physics
Thesis Supervisor
Certified by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
David E. Pritchard
Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics
Thesis Supervisor
Accepted by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Thomas J. Greytak
Professor of Physics, Associate Department Head for Education

2

Bose-Einstein Condensates in Optical Lattices:
The Superfluid to Mott Insulator Phase Transition
byJongchul Mun
Submitted to the Department of Physics
on May 23, 2008, in partial fulfillment of therequirements for the degree ofDoctor of Philosophy

Abstract87

Rb Bose Einstein Condensate in 3D optical lattice was studied in the regime of weakinteraction(the superfluid phase) and strong interaction(the Mott insulating phase).
The stability of superfluid currents was studied using a moving optical lattice.
The critical momentum for stable superfluid current varies from 0.5 recoil momentum(shallow lattice) to 0 (the Mott insulator) as the system reaches the Mott insulatortransition. The phase diagram for the disappearance of superfluidity was studied
as a function of momentum and lattice depth. Our phase diagram boundary extrapolates to the critical lattice depth for the superfluid-to-MI transition. When aone-dimensional gas was loaded into a moving optical lattice a sudden broadening of
the transition between stable and unstable phases was observed.
A new auxiliary vacuum chamber, which is called the science chamber, was designed and installed to improve optical lattice experimental performance and imaging
resolution power. Atoms are transported from the main chamber to the science chamber. By further evaporation cooling, BECs with N ∼ 2-3 × 104 atoms are produced
in a combination trap of two focused IR laser beams. High-resolution imaging was
obtained with a 4-lens stack providing a resolution of ∼ 2µm.
The deep Mott insulator(MI) phase was studied using clock shift spectroscopy.
Individual MI phases with integer occupation numbers could be addressed throughtheir clock shifts, and their spatial density profile could be imaged (“shell structure”).
With increasing trap depth, MI shells expanded from low to high density regions of
the cloud.
Thesis Supervisor: Wolfgang Ketterle
Title: John D. MacAurther Professor of Physics
Thesis Supervisor: David E. Pritchard
Title: Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics

3

4

To my wife, Misoand my family

5

Acknowledgments
As I wrote my Ph.D. thesis, I realized that my time at MIT was one of the mostprecious and exciting moments in my life. Although being a Ph.D. student at MIT
has not always been easy and straightforward to me, there has been so much help
and support around.
First, I would like to thank Wolfgang Ketterle and Dave Pritchard for providingme the opportunity to work with them. It is a superb experience to have them as
supervisors and learn how to face, think, approach and evaluate problems directlyfrom them. Wolfgang’s keen insight into physics has always amazed me; He has awonderful ability to see and find beautiful things from what looks somewhat boring
and unimportant. Also, I would like him for his consistent support and encouragementin the middle of many failures and sometimes slow progresses. Dave has always
inspired me to see physics in different angles with challenging questions that I had
never thought of. Those questions always have guided and helped me gain a solid
understanding of my research projects with new insights.
I also owe much gratitude to former people in the Rb lab: Dominik Schneble,
Aaron Leanhardt, Erik Streed, Micah Boyd, and Gretchen Campbell. When I joined
the Rb BEC lab, I worked with Erik and Dominik. Dominik, who was a then postdoc,
helped me be integrated into the group by teaching me about the machine and analysis
tools. He also had great sense of humor - even though he did not seem to recognize
it - to make it fun to work with him. I thank Erik for his guidance. His kind efforts
to introduce me many experimental tools and techniques - especially laser and optics
techniques - helped me figure out how to become an experimental scientist.
Micah was one of the people who built the Rb BEC machine, and he had masteryof the machine. Whenever I had problems with running the machine, he was the first
person that I could rely on. I thank him for his patience in fixing many technicalissues in spite of my many mistakes. I am still missing his many jokes including“Zul∼”.
In 2004, I started collaborating with Gretchen. She had great energy and enthu6

siasm in the optical lattice projects. In spite of many initial technical difficulties,
we could break through under her consistent and diligent leadership. I still vividly
remember the moment when Gretchen and I finally observed the clock shift spectroscopy of the superfluid-Mott insulator transition in the freezing cold lab at 6 AM
one day of February. Her enthusiasm and industrious work ethic has inspired me tofocus my energy and thoughts on the experiments.
I have also benefited from working with current BEC IVers, Patrick Medley, David
Weld, David Hucul, and Hiro Miyake. Patrick was a great lab partner. After simultaneous graduation of Gretchen and Micah, there were only two students left at thatmoment, Patrick and me. Patrick fitted into the lab very quickly and greatly improved
the productivity of the Rb lab with his unique ideas. Patrick’s insights into “everything” - regardless to say physics - have always impressed me, and it was delightful
to discuss with him on many topics.
Our current postdoc David Weld had brought a boost to the Rb lab. He joined thegroup when the science chamber was being set up. A number of technical issues could
be overcome with a help of his broad and deep understanding of physics. Also, hiskind personality and tireless working style helps the Rb BEC lab be more functional
and unified. David Hucul and Hiro Miyake are two junior graduate students in thelab. Even though I did not have many opportunities to work with them, I felt theirhuge enthusiasm whenever I talked with them about physics. I believe that the newcrews of the Rb BEC lab will have many successes in the future.
It was fortunate for me to work with many other excellent people in Ketterlegroup and the center for ultracold atoms(CUA). It is an unique and ideal community
for study and research of atomic physics. The weekly CUA seminars helped me learn
about a broad range of atomic physics research areas. Most importantly, I could
benefit from interactions and discussions with the people in the community. I also
thank BEC I, II, III lab people for their kindness to share experimental experiencesand generosity to lend me many of their own experimental optics.
My life at Cambridge has never been boring with many people who supported me
outside the research group. I like to thank many friends in the first Korean church in
7

Cambridge and pastor Kim for their fellowship, support, and warm care for me andmy wife. I thank KGSA soccer team for giving me the unforgettable memory of the
final game in the MIT IM league. Weekly intense basketball games with my KGSA
bball team people have provided me energies and refreshments.
I’d like to thank my family for love and support. My parents Seo-Ki Mun, who
I believe sees from heaven, and Yeon-Hee Choi have always encouraged me to do
my best in whatever I want to do. I thank my parents-in-law Seong-Wan Kim and
Won-Hyung Lee for their thoughtful care.
Finally, I thank my wife Miso. I really do not know how to express my gratitude to
my lovely one enough for her patient and endless support for my irregular experimentschedule. Every night when I came crazily late from the lab, she always waited forme and never forgot to give me a hug that always touched my heart. Through mydays at MIT, her companionship has motivated and inspired me. She is the love of
my life.
I give thanks to my shepherd, the LORD. I shall not be in want.

8

Contents
1 Introduction

17

1.1

Bose-Einstein Condensates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

17

1.2

Bose-Einstein Condensates in Optical Lattices . . . . . . . . . . . . .

18

1.3

The Superfluid to Mott Insulator Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

19

1.4

Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

20

2 Basic Theory
2.1

21

Bose–Einstein Condensate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

21

2.1.1

Non-interacting Atoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

22

2.1.2

Interacting Atoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23

2.1.3

How strongly do atoms interact? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25

2.2

Interactions in Bose-Einstein condensates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

27

2.3

Excitation Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

27

2.4

Superfluidity in Bose–Einstein Condensate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

32

2.4.1

Landau Critical Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

32

2.4.2

Interacting gas vs. non-interacting gas . . . . . . . . . . . . .

34

2.4.3

Critical Velocity in Optical Lattices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

34

Energy Scales in BEC Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

34

2.5

3 Bose–Einstein Condensates in an Optical Lattice
3.1

37

Optical Lattice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

37

3.1.1

Optical Dipole Trap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

37

3.1.2

Optical Lattice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

39

9

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

Band Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

41

3.2.1

Wannier Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

43

Bose-Hubbard Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

44

3.3.1

U and J Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

46

Superfluid Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

46

3.4.1

Energy Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

49

3.4.2

Excitation Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

49

Mott Insulator Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

51

3.5.1

Commensurate Filling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

51

3.5.2

Incommensurate Filling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

52

The Superfluid - Mott Insulator Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

53

3.6.1

Qualitative Overview of the Quantum Phase Transition . . . .

53

3.6.2

Quantum Phase Diagram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

55

3.6.3

Density Profile : “Shell Structure” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

57

3.6.4

Time-Of-Flight Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

58

4 The Science Chamber
4.1

61

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

62

4.1.1

Vacuum Chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

62

4.1.2

Bias Coils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

63

4.1.3

RF, Microwave Antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

63

4.1.4

Ultra High Vacuum in the Science Chamber . . . . . . . . . .

65

4.1.5

IR Laser Beams for Optical Trapping and Lattice . . . . . . .

66

Optical Dipole Traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

67

4.2.1

Optical Trap Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

67

4.2.2

Cross Optical Dipole Trap: Combination trap . . . . . . . . .

70

4.3

Production of BEC in the Science Chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

70

4.4

Imaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

74

4.4.1

High Resolution Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

75

Optical Lattice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

76

4.2

4.5

10

4.5.1

IR Laser System for the Optical Lattice . . . . . . . . . . . .

77

4.5.2

Optical Lattice Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

79

4.5.3

Lattice Beam Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

80

4.5.4

Technical Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

81

5 Manipulation of BEC with an Optical Lattice
5.1

5.2

85

Optical Lattice as a Manipulation Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

85

5.1.1

Kaptiza-Dirac Scattering: Two-Way Coherent Splitter. . . .

85

5.1.2

Bragg Scattering: One-Way Coherent Splitter . . . . . . . . .

86

5.1.3

Optical Lattice: Energy Dispersion Modifier . . . . . . . . . .

87

1D Four Wave Mixing in an Optical Lattice . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

87

6 Phase Diagram for a BEC Moving in an Optical Lattice

91

6.1

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

91

6.2

Critical Momentum of Superfluid Current in an Optical Lattice . . .

92

6.2.1

Energetic & Dynamical Instability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

93

6.2.2

Decay Process and Elementary Excitation . . . . . . . . . . .

94

6.2.3

Superfluidity in the Regime of Strong Interaction . . . . . . .

96

6.2.4

Effect of the Inhomogeneous Density Profile . . . . . . . . . .

99

Experimental Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

99

6.3

6.4

6.3.1

Moving Lattice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

6.3.2

Adiabaticity of Moving Lattice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Measurement of the Critical Momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
6.4.1

Experimental procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

6.4.2

Determination of Critical Momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

6.5

The Critical Point for the Quantum Phase Transition . . . . . . . . . 103

6.6

Decay of the Superfluid Current in a 1D System . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

6.7

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

7 Spectroscopy and Imaging of the Mott Insulator Shell Structure
7.1

109

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
11

7.2

Clock Shift Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
7.2.1

Clock Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

7.2.2

Clock Shift in Optical Lattice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

7.2.3

Two–Photon Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

7.2.4

Experimental Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

7.3

Clock shift spectroscopy of the SF–MI phase transition . . . . . . . . 113

7.4

Imaging the Mott Insulator Density Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

7.5

Application to Thermometer for Ultracold Atomic Systems . . . . . . 117

7.6

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

8 Demonstration of Quantum Zeno Effect using a BEC
8.1

123

Quantum Zeno Effect with Pulsed Measurement or Continuous Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
8.1.1

Pulsed Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

8.1.2

Continuous Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

9 Conclusion

127

A The Configuration of a High Resolution Imaging Lens

129

B Designs for Experimental Apparatus

133

C Phase Diagram for a Bose-Einstein Condensate moving in an Optical
Lattice137

D Imaging the Mott Insulator Shells by Using Atomic Clock Shifts

143

E Parametric Amplification of Scattered Atom Pairs

149

F Continuous and Pulsed Quantum Zeno Effect155

G Photon Recoil Momentum in Dispersive Media

161

Bibliography

166

12

List of Figures
2-1 Excitation spectrum of BEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

31

2-2 Obstacle object moving in the condensate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

33

3-1 Energy band structure in optical lattice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

43

3-2 Wannier functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

44

3-3 U and J matrix elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

47

3-4 Excitation spectrum of the superfluid in optical lattice . . . . . . . .

50

3-5 Optical lattice with commensurate and incommensurate fillings

. . .

53

3-6 Qulitative diagram of quantum phase transition . . . . . . . . . . . .

54

3-7 Quantum phase diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

56

3-8 Density profile in optical lattice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

57

3-9 Time of flight images of BEC in optical latttice . . . . . . . . . . . .

59

4-1 Top view of the science chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

63

4-2 Rf and microwave antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

64

4-3 IR laser beam set-up in the science chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

66

4-4 Transport ODT optics layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

68

4-5 Transport of cold atoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

69

4-6 Experimental procedure for producing a BEC in the science chamber

72

4-7 Emergence of BEC in the combination trap

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

73

4-8 Imaging setup in the science chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

74

4-9 The configuration of a high resolution imaging lens . . . . . . . . . .

75

4-10 Optics layout for optical lattice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

77

4-11 IR laser optics setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

78

13

4-12 Thermal lensing effect in optics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

82

5-1 Oscillating interference fringes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

86

5-2 Energy dispersion relation in optical lattice and phase matching condition 88
5-3 Atom pairs scattered from a BEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

89

6-1 Excitation spectrum of a BEC moving in optical lattice . . . . . . . .

95

6-2 The onset of a dynamical instability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

97

6-3 Phase diagram for stability of superfluid flow for commensurate andincommensurate filling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

98

6-4 Phase diagram for stability of superfluid flow in optical lattice . . . . 102
6-5 Images of interference patterns of superfluid released from an opticallattice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6-6 Determination of the critical momentum of superfluid flow . . . . . . 104
6-7 Critical momentum for a condensate in 3D lattice . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6-8 Critical momentum for 1D gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
7-1 Experimental procedure for clock shift spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . 113
7-2 Clock shift spectroscopy across the SF-MI transition . . . . . . . . . . 114
7-3 Probe of the On-site interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
7-4 Inverse Abel transform of n = 1 Mott insulator shell . . . . . . . . . . 116
7-5 Occupation number n and entropy S at finite temperature . . . . . . 118
7-6 Expansion of the MI domains with increasing trap depth and temperature119
7-7 The boundary position for the n = 1 and n = 2 MI domains at variabletemperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
7-8 Estimation of entropy in the MI phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
7-9 Prediction of entropy per particle S/N of a trapped BEC.[50]. . . . 122

8-1 Pulsed quantum Zeno effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
8-2 Continuous quantum Zeno effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

14

List of Tables
2.1

Energy Scales in typical BEC experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15

35

16

Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1

Bose-Einstein Condensates

BEC is a quantum mechanical phenomenon occurring at high phase space densities,
generally realized at extremely low temperatures. Below a certain critical temperature, a large fraction of bosonic atoms occupy the ground state and form (or condenseinto) a giant matter wave. In this state, every atom behaves in the same way, andquantum mechanical effects become manifest on a macroscopic scale. A quantum
world now becomes macroscopically visible to Alice “through the looking-glass of
BEC”.
The idea of Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) was first suggested by Bose andEinstein in 1924[12, 36, 37]. However, experimental realization of BEC had notbeen followed for over 70 years. Finally in 1995, the idea of Bose and Einstein
was experimentally realized in a dilute atomic gas system of Rb[4] and Na[29] after
the development of laser cooling techniques[22, 97, 24]. Nowadays BEC is routinely
produced and studied in a number of laboratories over the world.
Since the advent of BEC, the research field of BEC has flourished very rapidly overthe last decade, and BEC has been successful in serving as a unique and important
test bed in exploring the quantum mechanical world. A number of theories andexperiments using BEC have been performed and new possibilities suggested in awide range of research topics: for example, atom interferometry, atom optics, precision17

measurement, quantum computation, low-dimensional physics, quantum simulator ofcondensed matter system, etc. At the same time, the number of atoms in the BEC
family has grown. 10 species of atoms have been reported to be condensed into BEC.
The role of BEC is not limited to studying bosons; its role is extended to thestudy of fermions. BEC performs as a refrigerator for fermions in achieving low
temperature of fermi gases, and the BEC-BCS crossover has been studied very actively
both theoretically and experimentally

1.2

Bose-Einstein Condensates in Optical Lattices

An optical lattice is a versatile tool for ultracold atomic physicists. It is employed for
sub-recoil cooling [22, 24, 97], atomic clocks [121], atomic lithography [122, 82, 83],
etc. When an optical lattice meets BEC, it makes the physics of BEC more interesting
and richer.
In recent years, a BEC loaded in optical lattices has been extensively studied as amodel system for condensed matter phenomena. Ultracold atomic system in opticallattice is an ideal implementations of the Bose-Hubbard model and it could serve as a“quantum simulator” to investigate condensed matter theories. Many open questions
would be challenged and tested with this system. The system of BEC in opticallattice has major advantages over conventional condensed matter systems.
1. The system is defect-free.
2. The interaction is not as complicated as in conventional condensed matter system. The interaction is mainly due to s-wave collisions. (p-wave collisions could
be manipulated)
3. The experimental parameters can be controlled easily, precisely and dynamically. This is usually carried out by controlling the optical power of opticallattice laser beams
4. Various optical lattice geometries can be implemented (i.e. simple cubic, triangular, or kagomè lattice geometries[105])18

5. Lower dimensional system (1D, 2D) can be achieved
A number of topics in condensed matter theory could be investigated in opticallattice. The quantum phase transition between the superfluid and Mott insulator
phase[52, 65, 42], and low-dimensional systems (1D [94, 86, 116, 71], 2D[58]) havebeen achieved and studied in optical lattices. Various topics have been proposed bytheoretical works and wait to be experimentally realized using ultracold atoms andoptical lattices: ferro and anti-ferromagnetism[47, 32, 99, 100], disordered systems [45,79, 109, 23] (Bose glass, Anderson localization), spinor system in optical lattice[31, 56],
quantum information[64, 91, 92, 112], frustrated antiferromagnetism[27, 28], dipolar
gas system[54, 7], etc.

1.3

The Superfluid to Mott Insulator Transition

A BEC in an optical lattice realizes a nearly ideal system for Bose-Hubbard model.
Bose-Hubbard model describes interacting atoms in a periodic potential with only
two terms: a kinetic energy term for a hopping process between lattice sites and aninteraction energy term for an on-site interaction between atoms in a same latticesite. The transition between the superfluid(SF) phase and the Mott insulator(MI)phase, which is an important paradigm of strongly correlated system where transport
is suppressed by particle correlations, is described using this model.
This thesis focuses on the experimental realization and study of the SF-MI phasetransition using a 87 Rb BEC in 3D simple cubic optical lattice. Transport property
and number statistics have been experimentally investigated.
• Transport property: In general, one of the basic characterization experiments fortypical condensed matter materials is to measure their conductivities (transport
properties) by applying voltage. The transport properties of ultracold atomic
system in optical lattice were studied across the SF-MI phase transition byusing a moving optical lattice. The critical point for the phase transition isdetermined from the transport properties.
19• Number statistics: Particle-particle correlations, which lead to the suppressionof superfluid current in the MI phase, also modifies the number statistics ofthe system. Utilizing the clock shift in hyperfine transition of 87 Rb atoms, thedensity profile can be measured across the phase transition.

1.4

OutlineThe outline of this thesis is as follows. In chapter 2, I discuss basic theory of BEC
and the effect of the atom-atom interaction on the excitation spectrum of BEC.
The excitation spectrum is modified to have a phonon mode by the presence of theatom-atom interaction leading to the superfluidity. The superfluidity in BEC is also
discussed. In chapter 3, I discuss the dynamics of BEC loaded in optical lattice. A
introduction to Bose-Hubbard Model and two quantum phases, the superfluid phaseand the Mott insulator phase is given. Chapter 4 describes a new experimental setup,the science chamber. The science chamber is designed for optical lattice experimentand high resolution imaging. The experimental procedures such as optical tweezer
transport, optical trapping of BEC, and the production of BEC are discussed. A newhigh resolution imaging lens setup is also described. In chapter 5, optical lattices are
discussed as engineering tools of a BEC. Two experiments performed with opticallattices are briefly introduced. In chapter 6, transport property of superfluid in a
regime of weak interaction to strong interaction is discussed. The critical point for
the quantum phase transition between the superfluid and the Mott insulator phases
could be measured from this transport measurement. The transport measurementin 1-D system is also discussed. In Chapter 7, clock shift spectroscopy of the Mott
insulator phase is discussed as a density probe. Using two-photon pulse (µwave +rf), each Mott insulator shell could be addressed and imaged. The spatial profile of a
Mott insulator could be obtained. Chapter 8 presents experimental demonstration of
the quantum Zeno effect using a Rb BEC where the two-photon transition was used
to create a coherently driven two-level system.

20

Chapter 2
Basic Theory
In this chapter, I present a short review of the basic properties of BEC. Since there
have been already a number of good review papers, I simply refer to review papers[26,77, 69, 70, 25], earlier theses[114], and books[96, 55, 107] for a more detailed andgeneral review of BEC. In the following section, interactions in BEC are discussed.
Excitation spectrum of BEC and its effect on superfluidity are presented. In the lastsection, the hierarchy of energy scales relevant to the BEC experiment is discussed.

2.1

Bose–Einstein Condensate

In a system of bosonic particle, as the temperature decreases the number of particles ina ground state increases according to the Bose-Einstein distribution. Below a criticaltemperature, the occupation number N0 of the ground state becomes comparable tothe total number N of atoms in the system. Such macroscopic occupation in a groundstate is called Bose-Einstein condensation. As a quick estimate of critical temperature,
dimensional calculation can be done in the following way. A macroscopic matter wave
forms when the wave packet of atoms starts to overlap with each other. The thermalpde Broglie wavelength of an atom is λdB = 2π~2 /mkB T , and the distance between
atoms is n−1/3 (n : density). The condition for the formation of a macroscopic matterwave is imposed by21

λdB ∼ n−1/3

(2.1)
2 2/3

providing the critical temperature kB Tc ∼ 2π~mn. In a system of gas in a har-monic trap, for example, the density n is given by N/R3 (N : total number of atoms,
R : the size of the system). R can be estimated kT ∼ mω 2 R2 (ω : trapping frequency). The critical temperature is then determined by the condition in Eq. (2.1)

kB Tc ∼ ~ωN 1/3(2.2)

This dimensional estimation is already very close to the calculation of Tc in asystem of non-interacting gas in a harmonic trap (see Eq. 2.8).

2.1.1

Non-interacting Atoms

Let us first consider a non-interacting Bose gas in a harmonic trap with trap frequencies ωx , ωy , ωz . The energy spectrum of this system is given by

Enx ,ny ,nz = (nx + 1/2)~ωx + (ny + 1/2)~ωy + (nz + 1/2)~ωz(2.3)

The number N and energy E at temperature T are derived from the partition
function and Bose-Einstein statistics.

N=

E=

X
nx,y,zX1nx,y,zexp[β(Enx ,ny ,nz − µ)] − 1

Enx ,ny ,nz1
exp[β(Enx ,ny ,nz − µ)] − 1

(2.4)

(2.5)

where µ is chemical potential, and β = (kB T )−1 . As the temperature T approaches
zero, the occupation number of a ground state N0 becomes O(N ) and chemical potential µ → E0,0,0 . The number of atoms in this system is22

N = N0 +1X
nx,y,z 6={0,0,0}

exp[β(Enx ,ny ,nz − E0,0,0 )] − 1(2.6)

In the limit of large number N → ∞, the summation can be replaced by theR∞P
integral ( nx,y,z → 0 dnx dny dnz ). One gets the atom number in excited states
Nex = N − N0 ,

Nex = N − N0 = 1.202

kB T
~ωho

3
(2.7)

with ωho = (ωx ωy ωz )1/3 . The critical temperature for BEC can be determinedfrom this equation by letting N0 → 0. The critical temperature Tc and the condensate
fraction N0 /N are

2.1.2

kB Tc = 0.94~ωho N 1/3(2.8)

N0 /N = 1 − (T /Tc )3(2.9)

Interacting Atoms

The effective interaction between atoms in BEC is due to s-wave scattering process.
The effective two-body interaction may be written as a short range interaction potential U (r1 , r2 ) = gδ(r1 − r2 ) with interaction strength g = 4π~2 as /m (as : s-wave
scattering length, m: atomic mass). Including this atom-atom interaction term, themany-body Hamiltonian for interacting bose gas in a trap potential Vtrap (r) is [41]

Z
Ĥ =


Z
~2 2
1
drΨ̂ (r) −dr1 dr2 Ψ̂† (r1 )Ψ̂† (r2 )U (r1 , r2 )Ψ̂(r2 )Ψ̂(r1 )∇ + Vtrap (r) Ψ̂(r)+2m
2(2.10)†

with the boson field operators Ψ̂† (r), Ψ̂(r). When the temperature T is near the critical temperature Tc , the number of atoms in a ground state is macroscopic (∼ O(N )),and the field operator can be separated into two parts: one for the condensate partand the other for the excited state part. The excited state part of the field operator
is small compared to the condensate part and can be treated as a perturbation term.
23

The field operator Ψ̂(r) may be written asΨ̂(r) = Φ(r) + δ Ψ̂(r)(2.11)

where a complex function Φ(r) is the expectation value of the operator Ψ̂(r) andthe condensate density n0 (r) is given by n0 = |Φ(r)|2 .(Bogoliubov approximation)
The classical field Φ(r) = hΦ(r)i is analogous to the classical electric field E = hÊidefined as the expectation value of the operator Ê. The complex function Φ may becalled order parameter of the condensate (or the condensate wavefunction).
Assuming that the perturbation term δ Ψ̂ is very small and can be ignored, thefield operator may be replaced by a c-number Φ(r). The equation of motion is the∂Ψ̂(r, t) = [Ψ̂(r, t), Ĥ] ). If one replaces Ψ̂(r, t) by Φ(r, t),
Heisenberg equation ( i~ ∂t

the Heisenberg equation gives the equation for the condensate wavefunction Φ(r, t)∂i~ Φ(r, t) =
∂t




~2 2
2
∇ + Vtrap (r) + g |Φ(r, t)| Φ(r, t)
2m(2.12)

This is Gross-Pitaevskii(G-P) equation. This is a non-linear form of the SchrödingerRequation with a normalization condition dr|Φ|2 = N . The condensate wavefunction Φ(r, t) can be decomposed into a spatial and temporal part as in Φ(r, t) =φ(r) exp(−iµt/~) where µ is chemical potential. Then time independent G-P equation isµφ(r) =

~2 2
2∇ + Vtrap (r) + g |φ(r)| φ(r)2m(2.13)

where φ can be taken as real. This equation determines the phase of the condensate
as well as the density of the condensate. The phase at a given time t is given by µt/~,
and the density by |φ(r)|2 .
When the number of atoms is very large, the kinetic energy term in Eq. (2.13) becomes small compared to the interaction energy term and may be neglected (ThomasFermi approximation). Then one gets chemical potential µ and the density profilen(r)24µ = Vtrap (r) + g |φ(r)|2n(r) = |φ(r)|2 = (µ − V

if µ > Vtrap (r) 0otherwise

trap (r))/g(2.14)(2.15)R
The normalization condition of φ(r) ( dr|φ(r)|2 = N ) provides the chemical
potential µ
152/5
µ=
2
with aho =

2.1.3



N as
aho

2/5
~ωho

(2.16)

p~/mωhoHow strongly do atoms interact?

If there is no interaction in a system, the system is identical to a statistical ensembleof single particle system. Due to lack of interaction, ideal gas atoms do not “see” thepresence of other particles and can not “share” the wave function information suchas the phase and density. As will be covered later in the chapter 2, a non-interacting
system does not show interesting phenomena such as superfluidity, coherence, etc.
In opposite to the non-interacting ideal gas, the presence of interaction makes thereal-life gas more complicated as well as interesting and fun to study. Atom-atominteraction in dilute gas system leads to many interesting and remarkable phenomena,
one example of which is the superfluidity in BEC.
The next questions then arise; How strongly do atoms interact in a system of
BEC and how does it affect the physics? The interaction strength of atoms in BEC
is determined by the s-wave scattering length as . In order to estimate the interaction strength, this length scale as could be compared to another length scale: theinteratomic space n−1/3 . From Bogoliubov theory, the parameter na3s determines
the quantum depletion of condensate (nex /n ∼ (na3s )1/2 ), which indicates how muchnon-zero momentum states are mixed into the ground state of the condensate by thepresence of interaction. For 87 Rb, the quantum depletion is small na3s ∼ 10−6 − 10−425

 1 (as ∼ 5nm, typical density range n ∼ 1013 cm−3 − 1015 cm−3 ). Under the condition of na3s  1, the condensate number N0 should be close to the total number N .
This condition validates the approximation used in the Eq.(2.11) that non-condensatepart is neglected.
Another quantity that we can consider is the ratio of two energy scales : kinetic energy and interaction energy. The kinetic energy scale in the condensate is∼ N ~ωho = N [~2 /ma2ho ]. The interaction energy scale is ∼ gn2 V = N [g(N/V )] witha volume V ∼ a3ho . The ratio of kinetic energy to interaction energy is given by

Eint
N [g(N/V )]
N as
∼
∼
2
Ekin
N [~2 /maho ]aho(2.17)

Typically the trapping frequency ωho ∼ 2π × 100Hz (aho ∼ 1µm), and as /aho ∼0.005. For typical number of the condensate N ∼ 105 − 106 , the ratio of Eint /Ekin is∼ 500 − 5000. In large N limit, the interaction energy dominates since the kinetic
energy is proportional to N but the interaction energy to N 2 . This condition validates
the assumption that the kinetic energy term may be neglected in Thomas-Fermi
approximation (Eq.2.15)
When BEC is loaded in an optical lattice potential, the kinetic energy is describedby hopping matrix element J and the interaction energy is described by on-site interaction element U . The ratio of these two energy scales also plays an important role.
When the hopping matrix element dominates (J  U ), tunneling of atoms between
adjacent sites keeps the phase of system coherent, and the system shows the superfluidity. On the other hand, when the on-site interaction dominates (U  J), tunnelingprocess is suppressed(“communication” of atoms between adjacent sites stops ), andthis prevents the system from establishing the phase coherence over long range. This
state is called the Mott insulator phase. The ratio of interaction energy to kinetic
energy (U/J) determines the quantum phase of the system. The quantum phasetransition between the superfluid and the Mott insulator phase will be discussed laterin the chapter 3
26

2.2

Interactions in Bose-Einstein condensates

Atom-atom interactions arise from scattering process between atoms. Scattering process falls in two categories: inelastic process and elastic process. In inelastic scattering, there are several processes: spin exchange process, dipolar process, three-bodyprocess. These inelastic collision processes are “bad” collisions for BEC experimentalists since inelastic processes lead to loss of atoms in BEC. In experiments, inelastic
scattering rate is generally low enough so that atom loss is not significant on experimental time scales. More details on the ultracold scattering processes and atom loss
processes are discussed in Ref. [128, 127, 66, 120]
In elastic process, only s-wave scattering occurs at a very low temperature (“headon collision”). The temperature is so low that higher partial waves(l ≥ 1) are highly
suppressed and do not contribute. The cross section for the elastic scattering is given
by σ = 8πa2s , which is independent of energy of colliding atoms (as : s-wave scattering
length). This elastic process provides the effective interaction, two-body interaction
potential energy, which is given by a delta function interaction
U (r1 , r2 ) = gδ(r1 − r2 )(2.18)

2

with g = 4π~m as .
In this chapter, I review the basic theory of excitation in an interacting systemwith U (r1 , r2 ). The interaction [Eq. (2.18)] modifies the excitation spectrum from
non-interacting free particle type ( = p2 /2m) to the one with linear phonon branch( = sp). This phonon branch leads to the superfluidity.

2.3

Excitation Spectrum

We shall consider the system of interacting Bose gas with no external trapping Vtrap =0. The many-body Hamiltonian is given by Eq. (2.10). With field operators Ψ̂(x) =
√
P
−ik·x
ak , the Hamiltonian is[41]k (1/ V )e
27

Ĥ =

X

0k a†k ak +kXga†k1 a†k2 ak3 ak4 δk1 +k2 ,k3 +k4
2V k ,k ,k ,k1

2

3(2.19)

4

2 2

with free particle energy 0k = ~2mk .
As seen in chapter 2.1.3, the parameter na3s is very small in our experimental system, and it may be assumed that the condensate number N0 is close to the total number N (N − N0  N ). Under this assumption, the contribution of high-order terms
containing non-condensate part(ak , k 6= 0) becomes small, and the terms containing
more than two non-condensate operators ak6=0 may be neglected. The interaction partof the Hamiltonian can be truncated up to second order:gĤint ≈
2V(a†0 a†0 a0 a0 +X

4a†k ak a†0 a0 + a†k a†−k a0 a0 + a†0 a†0 ak a−k)(2.20)

k6=0

a0 (or a†0 ) can be replaced by c number√

N0 , since N0 ∼ N . The Hamiltonian in Eq.

(2.20) isgĤint =
2V

(
N02 +

X



)

4N0 a†k ak + N0 (a†k a†−k + ak a−k )(2.21)

k6=0

In a system of fixed atom number N = hN̂ i, N0 can be replaced using the number
operator N . The number operator is given byN̂ = N0 +

X †
ak ak

(2.22)

k6=0

Substitution of Eq. (2.22) into the interaction Hamiltonian (Eq. (2.21)) yields
the final Hamiltonian (kinetic energy + interaction energy)
1 2
1 X 0†† †Ĥ = gn V +2(k + ng)ak ak + ng(ak a−k + ak a−k )2
2 k6=0(2.23)

with n = N/V . In this Hamiltonian, only N and N 2 terms are kept.
The Hamiltonian (2.23) may be exactly solved using canonical transformation.
28

The diagonalization of this Hamiltonian can be done by defining new creation andannihilation operators αk , αk† .
†, a†k = uk αk† − vk α−kak = uk αk − vk α−k(2.24)

where the coefficients uk , vk are taken to be real and a function of k = |k|. For thistransformation to be canonical, a new set of operators should obey the commutation
relations([αk αk† ] = δk,k0 , [αk αk ] = [αk† αk† ] = 0 ). The commutation relations impose
the condition on the coefficients uk , vk . It can be easily checked thatu2k − vk2 = 1(2.25)

Substitution of the new operators α’s to the Hamiltonian (Eq. 2.23) yields
1Ĥ = gn2 V
2

+

X
k6=0

(...) +

X(...) αk† αk

k6=0

o

1 Xn
†
+
ng(u2k + vk2 ) − 2uk vk (0k + ng) (αk† α−k+ αk α−k ) (2.26)
2 k6=0
Two conditions are required to determine the two coefficients uk , vk . We have
only one condition in Eq. (2.25). The second condition may be chosen to eliminate
the last term in the Hamiltonian of Eq. (2.26) by settingng(u2k + vk2 ) − 2uk vk (0k + ng) = 0(2.27)

Using two conditions Eq. (2.25) and Eq. (2.27), the coefficients u and v are givenby 0
k + ng−12k1
vk2 = u2k − 1 =(2.28)

where
k =

q

(0k + ng)2 − (ng)2(2.29)The Hamiltonian (2.26) is finally diagonalized with the coefficients u and v given29

in Eq. (2.28).
X
1X 0
1(k − k + ng) +k αk† αkĤ = gn2 V −2
2 k6=0k6=0(2.30)

There are several points to note on this Hamiltonian
1. The ground state of this Hamiltonian |0iα (the ground state of the condensate)
may be defined by
αk |0iα = 0∀ k 6= 0(2.31)

This state is not the same as the ground state of the non-interacting gas since ak |0iα =−vk αk† |0iα 6= 0. The atom-atom interaction modifies a non-interacting ground state
to a superposition state of unperturbed states.
2. The contribution of unperturbed state of momentum k to the ground state of
the condensate may be calculated fromnk = ha†k ak iα = vk2 hαk αk† iα = vk2(2.32)The total contribution of non-zero momentum state to the condensate is calculated
as following
1 X
1 X 2
8
nk =
vk = √ (na3s )1/2
N k6=0N k6=03 π(2.33)

This defines the “depletion” of the condensate. In dilute atomic gas system, thedepletion of the condensate is very low. However, it could be raised by changing
the interaction strength using Feshbach resonances or optical lattices. Experimental
study on quantum depletion was done in optical lattices[132].
3. This Hamiltonian may be understood in a quasi-particle picture. An excitedstate of the condensate is created by applying a quasi-particle creation operator αk†
to |0iα . A quasi-particle with k is a superposition of two states (Eq. 2.24); onestate where a particle with momentum k is added by removing one particle in thecondensate and the other state where a particle with momentum −k is removed and
it is added to the condensate.
4. The excitation spectrum of the condensate is simply given by k =30p

0k (0k + 2ng)ħω/nU

ħk/ms

Figure 2-1: Excitation spectrum of BEC. For long wavelength (~k < mc, c: speedof sound), the excitation energy is linear to the momentum (phonon mode). The
excitation energy becomes free particle spectrum for higher momentum ~k > mc.

(Eq. (2.29)). There are two regimes, long wavelength (phonon mode) and short wavelength(free particle mode)k = c(~k)for k → 0

 0 + ng for k → ∞k(2.34)In the regime of long wavelength, the spectrum becomes linear with a sound velocityppc = ∂ωk /∂k = ng/m = 4π~2 as n/m2 . The quasi-particle operator becomesαk† → a†k − a−kk→0(2.35)

A long wave length quasi-particle has equal contribution from momentum k and −k,
and its wave function has a asymptotic form of sin(k · r)
In the opposite limit, short wavelength, the spectrum becomes free particle-like31

with energy offset ng. The quasi-particle operator becomesαk† → a†kk→∞

(2.36)

with an asymptotic wavefunction ∼ exp(−ik · r)
The excitation spectrum of the condensate is plotted in Fig. 2-1

2.4

Superfluidity in Bose–Einstein Condensate

The superfluidity is one of the most remarkable phenomena of BEC. For instance,
circulating flows are quantized in superfluid matter to form quntized vortices, whichwere observed in rotating BEC[1, 81]. Superconductivity is also explained in termsof a condensate of fermion-pairs and its superfluidity.
However, BEC does not necessarily imply superfluidity. Superfluidity does notoccur in the case of a non-interacting BEC. It is the atom-atom interaction that leads
to superfluidity in a dilute gas BEC as shall be discussed in the following section.
The condition for superfluidity and the effect of interaction on the superfluidity are
discussed.

2.4.1

Landau Critical Velocity

Let us consider the situation where an obstacle object moves with a constant speed
in a condensate [Fig. 2-2]. If the object moves very fast, it exerts pressure on theatoms around it and creates flow of atoms (excitations). However, as the speed of theobject decreases, the object ceases to create excitations below a certain speed since
the energy scale associated with the movement of the object becomes lower than the
excitation energy of a condensate.
To be more specific, let us assume that an obstacle object moving with velocity
v has a potential energy Vo (r) on atoms in a condensate and the position of an
obstacle is given by Ro (t) = vt + Ro (0) at time t. In the frame of a condensate,
the potential energy Vo is given by Vo (r − Ro (t)), which is time-dependent potential
32

v
Figure 2-2: An obstacle object moving with the velocity v in the condensate creates
excitations if it moves faster than the critical velocity vc

energy. A time-dependent potential could transfer energy to the system by creating
excitations. Fourier transformation of the potential energy shows which mode thispotential excites. The fourier transformation givesV˜o (q, t) =

Z

−iq·r

dre

Z
Vo (r − vt) =0

dr0 e−iq·r Vo (r0 )e−iq·vt = V˜o (q)e−iq·vt

V˜o (q, ω) = V˜o (q)δ(ω − q · v)

(2.37)The Fourier transform of the potential energy of the moving object has the energy
ω = q · v at the momentum q. For a given momentum q, this moving obstacle
can create excitations with energies ranging from 0 to ~qv. Excitations would not
be generated and the superfluid remains stable as long as the following condition is
fulfilled
q > Max (q · v) = qv

∀q(2.38)

Therefore the minimal velocity vc required to create excitations in superfluid is determined byv ≥ Min(q) = vcq(2.39)

From the excitation spectrum of weakly interacting Bose gas system (Eq. (2.34)),
the critical velocity for superfluid is given byr
vc = c =4π~2 as nm2

The critical velocity is equal to the sound speed.
33(2.40)

2.4.2

Interacting gas vs. non-interacting gas

In a non-interacting gas, the excitation spectrum is simply given by 0p = p2 /2m.
The critical velocity vanishes (vc = Min(0p /p) = 0), and superfluidity is absent in a
non-interacting BEC. The manifestation of superfluidity in a dilute gas BEC is due
to atom-atom interactions.

2.4.3

Critical Velocity in Optical Lattices

BEC loaded in optical lattices shows superfluidity. The critical velocity for unstablesuperfluid flow is the sound speed. However, there exists another type of decay process
in the system in optical lattices, called dynamical instability. A dynamical instability
occurs due to the modification of the excitation spectrum q by optical lattice as will
be discussed in the chapter 6.

2.5Energy Scales in BEC Experiment

In this section, I present the list of energy scales related to typical BEC experiments.
Understanding the hierarchy of energy scales is important in studying the physics
of ultracold atoms. If the order of energy scales changes, the dynamics becomescompletely different. For example, in typical harmonic traps chemical potential µ is
higher than the trapping frequency ωho by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude (Eq.(2.16)).
However, when trapping frequency along one axis (for example, z-axis) increases morethan chemical potential(~ωz  µ), the atomic motion along the z-axis is frozen andthe system behaves as in 2-D instead of 3-D.
In a typical harmonic trap, the order of energy scales is~2
 kB Tc ∼ ER > µ  ~ωho
ma2s

(2.41)In a deep optical lattice(i.e. 35 ER ), the order of energy scales changes to~2
 ~ωlatt  kB Tc ∼ ER > µ ∼ U  ~ωho  J
ma2s
34(2.42)

Energy
3-body recombination energy~2 /ma2s
critical temperature for BEC
Tc
87
2 2
recoil energy (λ = 780 nm, Rb D2 line)~ kRb /2m
2
/2m
recoil energy ER (λ = 1064 nm, Trapping IR laser)~2 kIR
meanfield interaction energygnchemical potentialµhopping matrix @ 35 ER
J
onsite interaction matrix @ 35 ER
U
external trapping~ω√hotrapping frequency in a optical lattice site @35 ER ~ωlatt = 4ER Vlatt
Table 2.1: Energy Scales in typical BEC experiments.

35

Frequency units
4.0 MHz∼ 10 kHz
3.8 kHz2.0 kHz∼ 1 kHz∼ 1 kHz
0.5 Hz1.3 kHz10 ∼ 100 Hz
24.0 kHz

36

Chapter 3
Bose–Einstein Condensates in an
Optical Lattice
In this chapter I present how optical trapping works and how the optical lattice isimplemented. The Bose-Hubbard model is introduced, and the two quantum phases
associated with the Bose-Hubbard model - the superfluid phase and the Mott insulator
phase - are discussed. The system considered here is only limited to single species
ultracold atoms(87 Rb BEC) in simple cubic lattice geometry. More general discussions
on ultracold atoms in optical lattice can be found in review articles[87, 78, 11]

3.1

Optical Lattice

3.1.1

Optical Dipole Trap

Atoms in a laser beam are affected by two kinds of forces. One is the dissipative force(or scattering force). It relies on the scattering of light by atoms. Scattering of light
impart momentum kicks to atoms and increases the momentum of atoms by amountsof ~k where k is the wave vector of the laser beam. The rate of scattering γp is
γp = γ · ρee = γ ·s0 /2
1 + s0 + (2δ/γ)2

37

(3.1)

where ρee is the population in an excited state of two-level system, s0 is a saturation
parameter, δ is a detuning, and γ is a natural line width of atomic transition. A
saturation parameter is defined by s0 = I/Isat . I is the intensity of the laser beam,and Isat is a saturation intensity of the transition. The dissipative force Fsc is thengiven by
Fsc = ~kγp = ~kγs0 /2
1 + s0 + (2δ/γ)2


(3.2)

The other type of force is the dipole force. The dipole force is a conservative
force,which can be written as a gradient of a potential energy. This potential energy
is the AC stark shift. When the laser is far detuned from resonance (more specifically,δ  γ), the dipole force Fdip is

Fdip = −∇Vdip~γ 2~γ 2 I
Vdip =s0 =8δ
8δ Isat(3.3)

Note that the sign of potential energy changes if the sign of the detuning δ changes.
When it is blue-detuned (δ > 0), atoms seek lower intensity. For red-detuning (δ < 0),atoms seek higher intensity. Atoms can be trapped (repelled) by focusing a reddetuned (blue-detuned) laser beam.
The intensity profile of a focused gaussian laser beam propagating along z-axis isI(r, z) =

2
2P
− 2r
w2 (z)eπw2 (z)(3.4)

where P is the total power of laser beam, and the 1/e2 beam waist w(z) is givenpby w(z) = w0 1 + (z/zR ). The Rayleigh length zR of the focus is zR = πw02 /λ(λ: wavelength of the laser beam). Near the focal point of the laser beam(z  zR ,r  w), the optical dipole trap can be approximated as a harmonic trap(
Vdip (r, z) ' −V0



1−2
38

r
w0

2


−

z
zR

2 )
(3.5)

with V0 = ~γ 2 /8δIsat ·(2P/πw02 ), and the trap frequencies are given by ωr =p
, and ωz = 2V0 /mzR2 .

3.1.2

p

4V0 /mw02

Optical Lattice

When two laser beams with the same frequency and polarization propagate in opposite
directions, they interfere. This leads to a periodic pattern of the intensity, which acts
as a periodic potential for atoms. The interference between two laser beams leads toa total electric field E(r, t) and intensity I(r, t).
E(r, t) = E1 (r, t) + E2 (r, t)= E1 e1 exp[−i(k1 · r − ω1 t)] + E2 e2 exp[−i(k2 · r − ω2 t)](3.6)

I(r, t) ∝ E · E∗ (r, t)= E12 + E22 + 2(e1 · e2 )Re E1 E2∗ e−i((k1 −k2 )·r−(ω1 −ω2 )t)(3.7)

The third term in the above Eq.(3.7) corresponds to the interference of two laser
beams, which provides aperiodic potential. There are several things to note on thisinterference pattern.
1. The polarization product e1 · e2 determines the optical lattice contrast. In
general, the same polarization (usually linear polarization) is used for bothlaser beams to maximize the optical lattice depth for a given total power of an
optical lattice laser beam.
2. The relative detuning ∆ω ≡ ω1 − ω2 gives rise to three different cases :∆ω = 0 : stationary optical lattice
0 < ∆ω ∼ ωrec : moving optical latticeωrec  ∆ω : “time-averaged” optical dipole trap(ωrec : recoil frequency, defined by ~ωrec = ~2 k 2 /2m)
• ∆ω = 0 : the interference term becomes a periodic potential V ∼ sin(∆k · r).
39

When two lattice beam propagate in the opposite direction (∆k = 2k), V ∼sin(2kz). The period of an optical lattice is given by 2π/2k = λ/2, where λ is
the wavelength of a laser beam.
The period could be controlled by changing the angle θ between two optical 
lattice beams. The resulting potential is V ∼ sin 2k sin( 2θ ) z , and its opticallattice period is 2π/(2k sin( 2θ )) = λ/2 · csc(θ/2).

• 0 < ∆ω ∼ ωrec : The phase of the interference pattern is (∆kz − ∆ωt), and an
optical lattice moves with the speed of ∆ω/∆k. In case of counter-propagating
optical lattice beams (k1 = −k2 ), the speed of the moving lattice is given byv = ∆ω/∆k = ∆ω/2k =

λ
∆f
2

(3.8)

with ∆ω = 2π × ∆f .

• ωrec  ∆ω : In this case, the interference pattern of two laser beams oscillates
fast compared to the characteristic time scale of atomic motion. The motionof atoms is not affected by such rapidly oscillating potentials. In quantum
mechanical language, ∆ω is far off from energy scale of atomic motion. Consequently, the third term in Eq. 3.7 is averaged-out to zero. Atoms “feel” only
the individual optical dipole trapping potentials from each laser beam (i.e. E12 ,E22 terms in Eq. (3.7)), not the optical lattice potential.).

In our experiment, an optical lattice was created by using two counter-propagating
beams with the same frequency and same polarization. The optical lattice potential
is then given by (see Eq.(3.5))(
Vlatt (r, z) = −Vlatt sin(2kz) 1 − 2

40



r
ω0

2


−

z
zR

2 )
(3.9)

3.2

Band Structure

The presence of an optical lattice modifies the dynamics of atoms profoundly. Theenergy spectrum is modified to a band structure, and energy gaps appear between
different energy bands. The dynamics of single atoms in a periodic potential can bewell described using Bloch’s theorem as follows [6].
The Hamiltonian for a single atom in a periodic potential V (x) with a period d(i.e. V (x + d) = V (x)) isEψ(x) =


~2 ∂ 2−+ V (x) ψ(x)2m ∂x2(3.10)

A wave function ψ(x) and the periodic potential V (x) may be expanded as
ψ(x) =

X

V (x) =

X

ck exp(ikx)(3.11)VK exp(iKx)(3.12)

k

K

With the expansions of ψ(x) and V (x), the kinetic energy and potential energy termin the Schrödinger equation are expressed−

X ~2 k 2~2 ∇ 2
ψ(x) =
ck exp(ikx)2m2mk
V (x)ψ(x) =

X

=

X

(3.13)

VK ck exp(i(k + K)x)k,K

VK ck−K exp(ikx)(3.14)

k,K

where in the last line, k → k − K.
The Schrödinger equation now reads(
XkX~2 k 2ck +VK ck−K2m
K)!
exp(ikx) = E

X
k

41

ck exp(ikx)(3.15)

Since plane waves are orthogonal to each other, Eq. (3.15) gives
X~2 k 2ck +VK ck−K = Eck2m
K(3.16), which is the Schrödinger equation in momentum space. The quasi-momentum k is
restricted to the first Brillouin zone(k : −Kx /2 ∼ Kx /2). For a sinusoidal opticallattice potential, the potential energy term VK is ikL x2e− e−ikL x
Vlatt (x) = Vlatt sin (kL x) = Vlatt
2i

Vlatt
=
2 − ei2kL x − ei2kL x
4


V /2
K=0

 lattVK =−Vlatt /4
K = ±Kx
0otherwise2(3.17)

where kL = 2π/λL , Kx = 2kL (reciprocal vector) with wavelength λL of the opticallattice laser. In Eq.(3.17), the K = 0 term gives a uniform energy offset to the
Hamiltonian and may be set to zero for simplicity. Second (K = ±Kx ) terms giveoff-diagonal matrix elements to the Hamiltonian and couple the coefficients ck toonly the coefficients ck±Kx . Consequently, the matrix form of the Hamiltonian in Eq.
(3.16) is given by (diagonal matrix) + (symmetric off-diagonal matrix).



..



.

(−1/4)Vlatt
0
0
0


2
2


~ (k+Kx ) (−1/4)Vlatt(−1/4)Vlatt
0
0
2m


2
2


~ (k)
H=
 (3.18)
0(−1/4)Vlatt(−1/4)V
0
latt
2m




~2 (k−Kx )2
(−1/4)Vlatt 0
0(−1/4)Vlatt
2m


..
.
0
0
0
(−1/4)Vlatt

The eigenenergy of this Hamiltonian matrix yields energy band structure En (k)(n: band index = 0, 1, 2, · · · ) as plotted in Fig. 3-1
42

-1

E [E R]E [E R]E [E R]E [E R]

14

14

14

14

12

12

12

12

10

10

10

10

8

8

8

8

6

6

6

6

4

4

4

4

2

2

2

2

-0.5

0.5

1

-1

-0.5

0.5

1

-1

-0.5

0.5

1

-1

-0.5

0.5

q [k L ]q [k L ]q [k L ]q [k L ]V = 2 ERV = 6 ERV = 10 ER

V = 14 ER

1Figure 3-1: Energy band structure in optical lattice. Ground energy band (black
curve), second energy band (blue), and third energy band (black) are plotted forvarious lattice depths Vlatt = 2, 6, 10, 14 ER . The energy and momentum is expressedin a unit of recoil energy ER , and recoil momentum kL respectively. With increasing
lattice depth, the ground band becomes flatter, and energy gap increases.

3.2.1

Wannier Function

A Bloch wave function is not a spatially localized wave function, but distributed over
all lattice sites. If the optical lattice depth Vlatt is relatively deep (tight-binding limit),
atoms do not travel far over lattice sites, but stay around a lattice site. Bloch wave
functions are not adequate in treating atoms in the tight binding case. A new set
of wave functions that are localized near a lattice site is preferred. Such a new set
of wave functions can be constructed from the Bloch wave function ψn,k . These newwave functions are called Wannier functions defined by1wn (r − R) =V0

Z

dke−ik·R ψn,k (r)(3.19)(R : position of lattice sites, V0 : volume of the first Brillouin zone). Fig. 3-2
displays the Wannier function of the lowest energy band at Vlatt = 2ER , 6ER , 10ER .
The Wannier functions wn are well localized at each lattice sites. They are orthogonal43

(a) 2 ER-1|w(x)|-0.5(b) 6 ER

2

0.5

1

-1

|w(x)|

-0.5

x [λ]

(c) 10 ER

2

0.5

1

-1

x [λ]

|w(x)|

-0.5

2

0.5

1

x [λ]

Figure 3-2: Wannier functions |w(x)|2 are plotted for 2, 6, 10 ER . Gray curves
represent the optical lattice potential. A x-axis is scaled with λ and the lattice periodd = 0.5λ. The overlap of Wannier functions between adjacent sites decreases withlattice depth indicating that the hopping matrix element J drops.
at different lattice sites as well as with different band indices.
Z

drwn∗ (r − R)wn0 (r − R0 ) = δn,n0 δR,R0(3.20)The Wannier function wn (r) is also normalized.
Z

3.3

dr|wn (r)|2 = 1(3.21)

Bose-Hubbard Model

In order to describe the system of interacting ultracold atoms in an optical lattice,
one needs to start from the basic many-body Hamiltonian such as Eq. (2.10). The
external potential energy term Vtrap (r) in Eq. (2.10) is now given by sum of theexternal trapping potential Vtrap (r) and the optical lattice potential Vlatt (r). The
Hamiltonian is~2 2∇ + Vtrap (r) + Vlatt (r) Ψ̂(r)Ĥ =drΨ̂ (r) −2m
Z1+
dr1 dr2 Ψ̂† (r1 )Ψ̂† (r2 )U (r1 , r2 )Ψ̂(r2 )Ψ̂(r1 )
2
Z

†



(3.22)The bosonic field operator Ψ̂(r) can be expanded in Wannier functions wn (r),44since Wannier functions are a complete basis set. It also may be assumed that theenergy scale involved in our system is small compared to the energy of the second
band. Wannier functions wn (r) reduces to only the ground band Wannier functionsPw(r) = w0 (r), and the bosonic field operator Ψ̂(r) is given by Ψ̂(r) = i w0 (r − Ri )ai
with an annihilation operator ai of atoms as a lattice site i with position Ri of latticesite.
There are three terms to be considered in the Hamiltonian Eq. (3.22).
• The kinetic energy and lattice potential energy term lead to a hopping matrix
element J, which describes hopping (or tunneling) between adjacent sites.
−JXa†i ajZwith J =

<i,j>


~2 2
drw (r−Ri ) −∇ + Vlatt (r) w(r−Rj ) (3.23)
2m∗

where < i, j > denote the nearest neighbor lattice sites. Note that the hopping
term has negative sign −J, since delocalization lowers the kinetic energy (lower
the curvature of the wave function).
• The trapping potential energy term gives an energy offset at each lattice site.
XZ
i n̂iwith i =drw∗ (r − Ri )Vtrap (r)w(r − Ri ) → Vtrap (Ri )(3.24)iwhere ni is the number operator n̂i = a†i ai• The last term is the on-site interaction energy term. We consider s-wave shortrange interaction and U (r1 , r2 ) = gδ(r1 − r2 ). The Hamiltonian is given by
1 X
Un̂i (n̂i − 1) with U = g2iZ

4π~2 asdr|w(r)| =m4

Z

dr|w(r)|4(3.25)

With these three terms, the Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian is obtained from Eq.
(3.22) [65, 42]
H = −JX
1 X
a†i aj + U
n̂i (n̂i − 1) +i n̂i
2
<i,j>
i
i
X

45

(3.26)

3.3.1

U and J Matrix

Two matrix elements U and J can be calculated from Wannier functions w(x)[65].
In Fig. 3-3, U and J are plotted as a function of lattice depth Vlatt . U and J
are expressed in units of recoil energy ER = ~2 k 2 /2m. J matrix element decreases
exponentially with increasing lattice depth, while U matrix element increases more
slowly.

3.4

Superfluid Phase

In a homogenous system, the matrix element U and J are the only parameters thatdefine and describe the system. Let us consider two extreme cases: J  U , U  J.
When the hopping process dominates over the interaction energy (J  U ), particles
easily hop between lattice sites (the superfluid phase). On the contrary if U  J,the energy cost for moving one particle from sites to sites is very high leading tosuppression of hopping process. This regime where atomic motion is frozen to eachlattice site is called the Mott insulating phase. The transition between the superfluidand Mott insulating phase occurs at a critical point between the two limits. A deepsuperfluid phase(J  U ) is discussed in this section, and a discussion on the deep
Mott insulating phase(U  J) followes in the next section
In a case of U/J → 0, the Hamiltonian in Eq. (3.26) becomes Ĥ = −J†<i,j> ai aj ,Pwhich is a tight-binding model Hamiltonian for atoms in an optical lattice. In a single
atom case, the eigenstates of this Hamiltonian are simply given by
1 X −ik·Ri †|Ψi = √
eai |0iM i(3.27)

where the wave vector k has discrete values in the first Brillouin zone. k = (lx /Mx )Kx +(ly /My )Ky + (lz /Mz )Kz (lx,y,z = 0, 1, 2, · · · ) where Mx,y,z are the number of latticesites along x,y,z axis (total number of lattice sites M = Mx · My · Mz ). The corre46





















 


















 Figure 3-3: U and J matrix elements47

sponding eigenenergy could be obtained after a simple algebra.
E(lx , ly , lz ) = −2J cos θ(3.28)with
θ = 2π

lx
ly
lz
+
+
M x M y Mz


(3.29)The band width for the first band is 4J.
For the N -atom case, the wavefunction of the ground state (k = 0) is"

1 X †|Ψi → √
ai
M i

#N
|0i

(3.30)The number statistics at a lattice site could be determined from this wavefunction in
Eq. (3.30). The probability for S atoms to be at a certain lattice site i in the groundeigenstate |Ψi(Eq. (3.30)) isN −S   S 
1N
1
1−f (S; N, 1/M ) =M
MS(3.31)

This is a binomial distribution for a probability 1/M and the number of trial N . The
average number per site n̄ is given by n̄ = N × (1/M ) = N/M , and the numberpp√fluctuation is N/M (1 − 1/M ) 'N/M = n̄. In a typical experiment, thetotal number of atoms N is ∼ 104 to 105 , the number of lattice sites M ∼ 105 ,the average number per site n̄ ∼ 1 to 3. When the numbers N , M are very high( 1), the binomial distribution becomes the Poisson distribution. Therefore thenumber statistics of the superfluid phase becomes equal to the Poisson distribution,
the number statistics of coherent states. The superfluid ground state can be expressed
as a set of coherent states residing at lattice sites i as follows.

|ΨiSF
U/J→0 →Yhi
exp(n̄a†i ) |0i(3.32)i

One important thing to notice about a superfluid coherent state is that it has long48

SFrange density correlation. Two states ai |ΨiSF
U/J→0 and aj |ΨiU/J→0 have a finite overlap

for a large separation |Ri − Rj |.
The superfluid phase ground state, which is a coherent state in the limit of U/J →0, becomes “squeezed” as the on-site interaction U increases. If U/J is increased to 1, the state is completely squeezed into a number state (Fock state).

3.4.1

Energy Spectrum

As discussed in the previous section, in the limit of J  U the energy spectrum[80,72] (Eq. (3.28)) forms a band structure with a width 4J. The modified energy
dispersion relation can be understood in the context of effective mass m∗ [73]. The
effective mass is defined from the curvature of the energy dispersion relation, m∗ ≡(∂ 2 E(p)/dp2 )−1 ∝ 1/J. The energy dispersion relation is now expressed with effective
mass m∗ near the momentum p = 0 as
E(p) =

p22m∗with m∗ = (∂ 2 E(p)/dp2 )−1 p=0(3.33)The effective mass m∗ deviates from the initial mass m in the presence of lattice.
With increasing optical lattice depth, the hopping processes are suppressed(lower J)
and the effective mass increases. An experimental study of the effective mass of a
BEC in an optical lattice has been performed by measuring the frequency of dipole
oscillations of a BEC in a variable optical lattice depth [21]. For instance, Fig. 3-1
shows that the lowest band becomes flat due to the increase of effective mass m∗ as
the lattice depth is raised.

3.4.2

Excitation Spectrum

Excitation spectrum (k) in the superfluid phase could be considered in two different
range of k.
• Long wavelength excitation (k → 0): For small k, particles in the system behaves as if they have an effective mass m∗ . The excitation energy is given by
49



















 





Figure 3-4: Excitation spectrum of the superfluid in optical lattice. The black(dashed) curve shows the excitation spectrum in optical lattice (with no optical lattice, respectively). The spectrum has the linear phonon mode for long wavelength
excitation(q → 0). In the presence of optical lattice, the spectrum is modified to havean energy band structure (Bogoliubov band).

50

a linear dispersion relation as in the weakly interacting gas with no lattice (asdiscussed in chap 2) except for a new effective mass, m∗ .
(k) ∼ c∗ kwith a modified sound velocity c∗ ∼(3.34)

p√
U/m∗ ∼ U · J. The sound velocityc∗ in optical lattice decreases with a lattice depth. For more rigorous mathematical methods, see Ref. [124, 72] where the Bogoliubov approach was used
for the energy spectrum. Eq. (3.34) shows that the excitation spectrum of thesuperfluid phase has no energy gap.
• Near the first Brillouin zone (k ∼ kL ): The periodic condition modifies theexcitation spectrum k to be periodic and to form a band structure(Bogoliubovband) as in the Bloch band. Near the Brillouin zone boundary, the excitation
spectrum bends over instead of bend up as illustrated in Fig. 3-4. In the limitof J  U , the excitation energy is approximated to (k) ∼ −2J cos(πk/kL ) fork ∼ kL .

3.5

Mott Insulator Phase

3.5.1

Commensurate Filling

For U/J  1, the limit opposite to the superfluid phase, the Hamiltonian becomesP(1/2)U i n̂i (n̂i − 1). The eigenstates for this Hamiltonian are number states |ni(n =0, 1, 2, 3, · · · ) (Fock state). The ground state is given|ΨiU/J→∞ →Y †(ai )n |0i(3.35)iwhere the atom number per site n = N/M is integer (commensurate filling)
In Fock state configuration, the first excited state corresponds to a particle-holeexcitation ( |nii |nij → |n + 1ii |n − 1ij ) as illustrated in Fig. 3-5 (a). The excitation51

energy is∆E = Eptcl + Ehole = (E(n + 1) − E(n)) + (E(n − 1) − E(n))= nU + (−(n − 1)U ) = U(3.36)To transport a particle from one site to other in the Mott insulating phase, it requires
a minimum energy ∆E (none-zero energy gap in energy spectrum), otherwise theMott insulating system does not allow particle to “flow”(insulator).
The phase coherence property of the Mott insulator phase is very different fromthat of the deep superfluid phase. Due to suppressed tunneling process, atoms inlattice sites can not “communicate” and not share their wave function information.
Lack of communication leads to absence of density correlation. To be more specific, two states ai |ΨiU/J→∞ and aj |ΨiU/J→∞ have vanishing overlap for any i,j (hΨ|a†j ai |ΨiU/J→∞ = 0 ). If J increases from zero, the wave function of atoms canstart to tunnel through the lattice spacing more easily so that the atoms become lessrestricted in “communication”. However, even if atoms can “talk” to atoms in otherlattice sites, the range of communication is limited to near lattice sites (short-range
coherence) as long as the ratio of U/J is above a certain critical value (U/J)c . Below(U/J)c , the long range phase coherence is recovered and the system turns into thesuperfluid phase.

3.5.2

Incommensurate Filling

What happens to the system if the occupation number is not equal to integer? Let
us consider the situation where one particle is added to n = 1 Mott insulating phase.
Strong interaction limit (U/J  1) is still assumed here. In this system, it does notcost energy to transport the added particle to other sites (Fig. 3-5 (b)). The energy
spectrum for n̄ = 1 +  becomes gapless and shows superfluidity. This system can beconsidered as superfluid component resides on top of the frozen background atoms in
the Mott insulating phase. The chemical potential for n = 1 +  is given by U .
Let us consider the opposite case where one particle is taken out of (or one hole
52

(a)

(b)

U

∆E = U∆E = 0commensurate filling n=1

incommensurate filling n=1+εFigure 3-5: Commensurate and incommensurate systems in optical lattice. To move
one atom to other site, (a) in commensurate filling the energy cost is equal to theonsite interaction energy U (b) in incommensurate filling additional energy is not
required.
is added to) the n = 1 Mott insulating system, the energy spectrum also becomesgapless since it does not take energy to move one hole from site to site in the same
way as discussed above. On contrary to the n = 1 +  case, in n̄ = 1 −  system thechemical potential vanishes (µ(1 − ) = 0). A particle can be “plugged” in one of
the empty lattice sites without costing interaction energy with other atoms that are
initially occupied in the lattice.

3.6

The Superfluid - Mott Insulator Transition

3.6.1

Qualitative Overview of the Quantum Phase Transition

We have considered two extreme regimes of the parameter U/J  1,  1. The statein each limit is very different in terms of energy spectrum and phase coherence. For
example, while the deep Mott insulating phase has a finite energy gap ∆E = U , theenergy spectrum of the superfluid phase is gapless(∆E = 0). It could be expectedthat if the system is initially prepared in the deep superfluid phase(J  U ) and the
53

(a)

μ/U
1

μ(1+ε)μ(1)ΔE

0μ(1-ε)(J/U)c

J/U

(b)

...

...
n=1+ε

n=1-ε

Figure 3-6: Qualitative view of quantum phase transition. (a) The chemical potential
for two incommensurate fillings n = 1 ±  is displayed as a function of J/U . They
differ by U at J/U = 0, but become equal at a certain value (J/U )c . At non-zero
J/U the energy gap ∆E for the Mott insulator with n = 1 is given by the differenceof chemical potentials between n = 1 ± . (b) Transport of atoms in the n = 1 MIphase.
interaction energy U is slowly turned up, the energy gap ∆E becomes non-zero at a
certain point (U/J)c and opens up as U increases.
The quantum phase transition between the two phases may be treated qualitatively in the following way. As discussed in the previous section, in the limit of
J = 0 the chemical potential µ is very sensitive to the filling factor n̄. It is given byµ(1 + ) = U , µ(1 − ) = 0. On the other hand, in the deep superfluid phase(J  U )a chemical potential is a continuous function of a filling factor n̄. Consequently, twochemical potentials for n̄ = 1 ± , that initially differ by U , become infinitesimallyclose to µ(1) as the the hopping matrix J is raised up from 0. The chemical potential
for the n̄ = 1 superfluid is given by µ(n̄ = 1) = 0.5U . The chemical potential forn̄ = 1, 1 ±  are drawed qualitatively as a function of J/U in the Fig. 3-6 (a). The
two chemical potential meet at a critical point (J/U )c .
54

Now let us consider the n = 1 Mott insulator phase to see how the energy gap∆E disappear across the phase transition. The energy gap ∆E could be obtained asfollows. When a particle hops between sites in the Mott phase, one lattice site, sayi, becomes filled with two particles, and the other site j is left empty. The wholesystem could be considered to be made of two systems with n = 1 ± , as depicted in
the Fig. 3-6 (b). Then the excitation energy for this infinitesimal transport (k → 0)
is the sum of the energy taken for adding one particle to n = 1 +  system and theenergy taken for subtracting one particle from n = 1 −  system. The energy gap ∆E
is given by difference between two chemical potential energies∆E = Eptcl + Ehole = µ(1 + ) − µ(1 − )

(3.37)In a n = 1 system, the energy gap ∆E (Eq. (3.37)) of the Mott insulating phasedecreases as the hopping term J grows as illustrated in the Fig. 3-6 (a). ∆E finally
vanishes at a point (J/U )c , and the system turns into the superfluid phase.

3.6.2

Quantum Phase Diagram

So far, the quantum phases have been discussed under the condition that the system
is homogenous (no external trapping) and the atom number in a system is fixed. By
introducing the chemical potential µ, the condition of fixed atom number may beremoved. The Hamiltonian is modified with a chemical potential term
H = −JX
1 X
a†i aj + U
n̂i (n̂i − 1) −
µn̂i
2
i
i
<i,j>
X

(3.38)The quantum phase is determined as a function of a chemical potential µ and theparameter J/U .
The quantum phase diagram has been theoretically studied[104] and calculatedusing various numerical methods such as the Gutzwiller mean-field theory [65, 75],
mean-field perturbation methods [124], Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method [20,8, 74, 74], etc. The most recent QMC [20] calculation provides the critical point
55

(zJ/U)zJ/U

Figure 3-7: Quantum phase diagram calculated using the meanfield approach. The
quantum phase is determined as a function of the chemical potential µ and J/U

56

n

(a)

2.5
2

n=2
MI
SF

1.5

n=1
MI

1

SF
0.5

Superfluid
-1

-0.5

zJ/U

r

1

0.5

n

(b)

2.5

n=2
MI

2

n=1
MI

1.5

n=2
MI

n=3
MI

n=1
MI

1

µ/U

0.5

r

-1

-0.5

0.5

1

Figure 3-8: Density profile of ultracold atoms in optical lattice for J/U = 0.01[(a)], and J/U = 0[(b)] with chemical potential µ0 = 1.5U . Each quantum phase issurrounded by layers of other quantum phases (formation of “shell structure”). In(a), the density between MI phases varies continuously in the SF shell. In (b) (J = 0),
the SF components are absent and the density profile becomes step-like with the MIphase.
(J/U )c = 1/29.34(2) at a filling factor n = 1 in a 3D cubic lattice. The mean-field
theory predicts the critical point (J/U )c = 1/(5.8z) for n = 1 with z = 2d thenumber of nearest neighbors. The mean field critical point (J/U )c in 3D cubic lattice
is 1/34.8. The quantum phase diagram derived from the mean field theory is plottedin Fig. 3-7.

3.6.3

Density Profile : “Shell Structure”

In experiments, atoms are normally trapped in an external trap, and the density
profile becomes inhomogeneous. If the density change is smooth enough (this condition is generally held in our experiment), a small part of the system localized57

near r may be approximated to be homogenous with the local chemical potentialµloc = µ0 − Vext (r)(local density approximation). The Hamiltonian may be written

XX
1 Xa†i aj + U
n̂i (n̂i − 1) +Vext (Ri )n̂i −
µn̂i
2
<i,j>
i
i
i
X †
X
1 X
= −J
n̂i (n̂i − 1) −ai aj + U
µloc (Ri )n̂i
2
i
<i,j>
i

H = −J

X(3.39)The quantum phase is now determined by the local chemical potential µloc as well as
U/J.
The local chemical potential µloc varies from µ0 (trap center) to 0 (trap edge) ina typical harmonic trap; the quantum phase also changes as a function of positionin the trap. It becomes possible in trapped system that several different quantum
phases exist simultaneously. For example, for J/U = 0.1 and µ0 = 1.5, the system
has 3 different phases; n = 2 MI phase near the trap center, two superfluid layers, andn = 1 MI phase between the two superfluid layers (Fig. 3-8 (a)). The density profile
consists of SF and MI phase layers, which is called “shell structure”[30, 67, 65].
In the limit of J/U → 0, the system is fully frozen, and the quantum phase must
be the MI phase at every position in the system. The number fluctuation becomeszero so that the ground state is given by a Fock state. The number of atoms per siteis then an integer and determined asn̄ = n if

n − 1 < µ/U < n(3.40)

with integer n = 0, 1, 2, · · · . The density profile becomes discontinuous with steplike
profile as illustrated in Fig. 3-8 (b).

3.6.4

Time-Of-Flight Images

The phase coherence properties can be estimated from time of flight images. Whenatoms in the superfluid phase are released from the trap and optical lattice, phase
58

3 ER

5 ER

7 ER

10 E R

11 E R

13 E R

16 E R

20 E R

Figure 3-9: Time of flight images of ultracold atoms released from the trap and opticallattice for variable lattice depth. The interference fringe contrast increases with lattice
depth. For deep lattice (i.e. 16, 20 ER ), the system is in the Mott insulating phase,and the fringe pattern disappears due to lack of long-range phase coherence. The
expansion time was 33 ms.
coherence[53] leads to an interference pattern as depicted in Fig. 3-9. The interference
peaks have the momentum of 2kL [95]. However, the Mott insulating phase does nothave long range phase coherence and does not show the interference pattern in thetime-of-flight images. The time of flight images are shown in Fig. 3-9 across thesuperfluid to the Mott insulating phase transition. The fringe patterns are clearlyvisible in the superfluid phase with lattice depths of 3 ER to 13 ER , while it disappears
above 16 ER where the system is in the Mott insulating phase.
One thing to note on time-of-flight images is that the interference pattern does
not provide direct information on the SF-MI phase transition. The interference fringe
pattern probes only ground-state properties, and the SF-MI phase transition should
be probed by measuring the properties of excitations[101].

59

60

Chapter 4
The Science Chamber
In this chapter, I describe our new experimental apparatus, the “Science Chamber”.
The science chamber is an auxiliary vacuum chamber attached to the main vacuum
chamber, of which design is described in Ref. [118]. The main vacuum chamber isequipped with magnetic trap coils and magneto-optical trap(MOT) optics for the
production of BEC. Typically BEC is produced and trapped in the main vacuum
chamber for experimental study. One drawback of the main vacuum chamber is that
there is very limited optical access, since big magnetic coils and laser cooling optics
occupy most of space around the main vacuum chamber. Such limited optical accessto the main chamber makes it difficult to set up optical lattice laser optics aroundthe main chamber. Typical optical lattice experiments generally require 6 clear laser
beam paths to a vacuum chamber.
These problems are fixed by introducing an auxiliary vacuum chamber attached tothe main chamber. In this configuration of two vacuum chambers, BEC (or ultracold
atoms) is prepared in the main chamber, and transferred to the auxiliary chamberusing an optical dipole trap. The role of the main chamber is only to produce a
BEC or ultracold atoms, and the experimental part with the BEC is performed in
the auxiliary chamber. We call this auxiliary chamber “science chamber”, since mostof the scientific experiments are carried out in the auxiliary chamber.
The Science chamber concept provides great flexibility in several technical aspects.
The design of the science chamber could be customized for each type of experiment,61

and the installation of the science chamber could be done easily without breaking themain chamber’s vacuum. This makes it easy and quick to switch between different
experiments. The scheme of the science chamber has been employed at MIT for theatom chip, hard disk trap, and optical lattice experiment. For more details on theexperimental scheme in these experiments, I refer to early theses ([110, 76] for atom
chip experiment, [13] for hard disk trap experiment)
In this chapter, only the science chamber and associated optical lattice setup arecovered. Detailed description and discussion of other parts of the Rb BEC machinesuch as the Rb oven, the Zeeman slower, and the main chamber, are given in the Rb
BEC machine paper [118], and other theses [117, 13, 15]

4.1

Overview

4.1.1

Vacuum Chamber

The science chamber is designed for optical lattice experiments. The chamber has
many viewports for optical lattice laser beams and optical trapping beams, especially
accommodating two large viewports for high-resolution imaging. The science chamber
is illustrated in the fig. 4-1. In a horizontal plane, there are 6 view ports (the outer
diameter 1.2500 ∼ 1.500 ), 1 flange for vacuum pumping, and 1 small flange connecting
to the main chamber. Two big viewports with the diameter of 400 are placed on the
top and bottom of the science chamber (along z-axis in Fig. 4-1). All viewport glasses
are AR coated for λ = 780 and 1064 nm.
The science chamber is connected to the main chamber by a flexible bellow on theflange labeled by (a) in Fig. 4-1. The 4-way cross vacuum part, where the ion pump,
ion gauge, and Ti-sub pump are installed, is connected to the science chamber on theflange labeled by (b) in Fig. 4-1.
62

y
z

(a)

x

(b)
Ion Pump,
Ion Gauge,
Ti-Sub Pump

Main Chamber

Figure 4-1: Top view of the science vacuum chamber. There are 6 view ports (theouter diameter 1.2500 ∼ 1.500 ), 1 flange (b) for vacuum pumping, and 1 small flange(a) connecting to the main chamber. Along the vertical direction there are two 400
diameter viewports on the top and bottom of the chamber, which is designed for highresolution imaging.

4.1.2

Bias Coils

For bias B-field, pairs of coils are used in Helmholz configuration. Each of 4 coilswith 20 turns ( 4 turns/layer × 5 layers = 20 turns) are placed on the four diagonal
viewport flanges in Fig.4-1. The dimension of these coils is: outer diameter: 400 ,inner diameter: 2-3/400 . Along the vertical direction (z direction), two big coils with
20 turns ( 5 turns/layer × 4 layers = 20 turns ) are placed on the top and bottom
viewports. Its outer and inner diameter are 7-1/1600 and 600 respectively.

4.1.3

RF, Microwave Antenna

A RF antenna is made of a coil of a thin copper wire wound with five turns (N = 5).
Its diameter is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the top viewport flange sothat the RF antenna can fit inside the top viewport flange. RF signal is generated
by RF synthesizers (model number: Agilent 33250A, or SRS DS345 ), and the signal
is amplified and sent to the RF antenna.
63

Imaging
lens

Rf antenna(a) rf antenna(b) microwave antenna

Figure 4-2: Rf and microwave antenna. (a) An rf antenna is installed right above
the top viewport with a plastic ring-shape mount. A high-resolution imaging lensstack is also shown above the top viewport flange. The imaging lens is very close to
the vacuum chamber for higher numerical aperture(NA). Bias coil pairs are mounted
along three perpendicular direction. (b) A microwave antenna is located below thechamber. It is an open-ended rectangular waveguide with a frequency range of 4.907.05 GHz.

64

An open-ended rectangular waveguide is employed as the microwave antenna
horn.(Fig. 4-2) Waveguide standard WR-159 (frequency range: 4.90 − 7.05 GHz(Fband)) was used for the 6.8 GHz, 87 Rb hyperfine transition. Dimensions of waveguideare 1.59000 × 0.79500 (W×H) with a length of 600 (Manufacturer: Waveline INC. model:
5901-SMAF(Adapter), 5942-2(6 inch-long straight section)). The Agilent microwave
synthesizer(model: E8257D-520) and microwave amplifier (Manufacturer: Microwave
power INC. L607-37, maximum output power: 37dBm) are used for signal generation
and amplification.
For spin flipping (∆m = ±1), the direction of the oscillating magnetic field must be
perpendicular to the bias magnetic field direction . The bias magnetic field direction
is set along the y-axis in Fig. 4-1. The rf coil’s magnetic field direction was set alongz-axis. For the microwave antenna, the magnetic field direction is the long axis of therectangular waveguide and was chosen to lie along the x-axis in Fig. 4-1
In microwave applications, special coaxial cables designed for high frequency signal
are required. A typical type of coaxial cables used in the lab, RG-58 works properly
only up to few hundreds MHz and has huge attenuation at 6.8 GHz, over 30dB/10m.
In our experiment, a rigid cable shielded with aluminium (Pasternack Enterprises,
PE34184-60) is used for connecting the amplifier and the microwave antenna, andsemi-rigid cable is used between the synthesizer and amplifier.

4.1.4

Ultra High Vacuum in the Science Chamber

The science chamber was pre-baked at 250◦ C with a turbo and an ion pump before
being joined with the main chamber. After its installation, the science chamber was
baked out again at 250◦ C. After the bake out, the Ti-sub pump was fired several times,
and the final pressure in the science chamber reached down to between mid-10−11 and10−10 Torr, which is acceptable pressure range for ultracold atom experiment.
Compared to the typical pressure in the main chamber, which is below 10−11
Torr, the science chamber pressure is relatively high. It is strongly believed that thecapacity of the ion pump in the science chamber is not big enough for the vacuum
load, and it limits the pressure. The capacity of ion pumps typically used in the main
65

y
z

transport ODTxMain
Chamber“ANTI” ODT

optical lattice

optical lattice
Cross ODT

Figure 4-3: IR laser beam set-up in the science chamber.
Three IR laser beams are used for optical dipole trapping: the transport ODT laser
beam (yellow beam coming from left), the anti ODT (blue beam coming from right),
and the cross ODT (blue beam coming from bottom). The transport ODT transports
atoms from the main chamber to the science chamber. The atoms are then transferredto the anti ODT from the transport ODT in the science chamber. A combination
ODT (anti ODT + cross ODT) is employed as the main trap.
Three optical lattice laser beams are aligned to the center of ODT. Two horizontal
lattice beam directions are chosen along the diagonal directions orthogonal to eachother. The vertical lattice (not shown in the figure) is set up along z-direction.
chamber is 55 l/s, while the science chamber ion pump’s capacity is considerably
small 20 l/s. As a result, when the gate valve between the main chamber and thescience chamber opens the science chamber pressure becomes lower due to pumping
from the main chamber ion pump. If lower pressure is required in the future, it should
be considered to change the ion pump in the science chamber.

4.1.5

IR Laser Beams for Optical Trapping and Lattice

9 optical beam paths are employed for IR laser: 6 beam paths (3 incoming beams
and 3 retro-reflected beams to form standing wave) for optical lattices, 3 beam paths
66for optical dipole traps(ODT). The configuration of IR laser beams is shown in Fig.
4-3.
The transport ODT laser beam (yellow beam on the left in Fig. 4-3) is aligned tothe position of the main chamber magnetic trap. The transport ODT beam captures
atoms cooled in the main chamber, then the beam is linearly moved to the centerof the science chamber by moving its focus lens using a motorized translation stage.
Since the beam path is very long and its focus lens is mounted on the translation
stage, the transport ODT beam has mechanical vibration issues not to provide stabletrapping potential.
To address these issues, another ODT beam, which we call “anti” ODT (blue beamon the right in Fig. 4-3), is set up in the opposite direction of the transport ODTbeam. The anti ODT has the same beam profile and position as the transport ODTexcept for the laser beam propagation direction. When the transport ODT beam
arrives in the science chamber, the transport ODT beam and the anti ODT beam
overlap very well so atoms trapped in the transport ODT could be mostly transferred
into the anti ODT.
The third ODT beam perpendicular to the anti ODT beam direction (cross ODTin Fig.4-3) is aligned to the focal spot of the anti ODT. The cross ODT provides tightconfinement along the long axis of the anti ODT to enhance the evaporative coolingefficiency and to reach below the BEC transition temperature.
Two optical lattices are set up in the horizontal plane as shown in Fig. 4-3. The
third optical lattice is aligned along the vertical direction (z-direction).

4.2

Optical Dipole Traps

4.2.1

Optical Trap Transport

In order to deliver ultracold atoms produced in the main chamber, focused IR laser
beam is employed as a tweezer and transporter. The optics arrangement for the transport ODT is illustraed in Fig. 4-4. The IR laser beam is magnified and collimated67500 mm

2w = 12 mm

T-Stage

300 mmoptical fiber
35 mm

75 mm

100 mmFigure 4-4: Transport ODT optics layout. ODT IR laser beam size is magnified by
two telescopes: combinations of 35 mm+75mm, and 100 mm+300 mm lenses. The
collimated IR laser beam with 1/e2 beam diameter of 12 mm is focused on the atoms
by an f = 500 mm lens. A translation stage moves the atoms trapped in the ODTby translating the f = 500 mm focus lens.

with an 1/e2 radius of ∼ 6 mm. The laser beam is then focused on the atoms inthe main chamber by a f = 500 mm lens, and the 1/e2 radius of the focal spot is
wODT ∼ 30 µm. The ODT laser power is linearly ramped up to 600 mW in 2 s tocapture the atoms.
Transport of atoms to the science chamber is performed by moving the f =500 mm focus lens(Fig.4-5). An air bearing linear translation stage(Aerotech ABL2075,
with a precision of up to 0.1 µm) moves the lens. Its motion is precisely controlled by
a computer program. A computer program calculates the optimal transport velocity
and acceleration, and it drives the translation stage for a given moving distance dand time duration t. Typical transport parameters are d = 360.80 mm, and t = 3 s.
After the transport, the transport ODT laser power is linearly ramped down tozero, while the anti ODT laser power is simultaneously ramped up to 600 ∼ 700 mW
in 2 s to transfer atoms from the transport ODT to the anti ODT.
68

y
z
Main
Chamberx

ScienceChamber(a)Transport
ODT~ 360 mm(b)(c)
“ANTI” ODT(d)“ANTI” ODTFigure 4-5: Transport of cold atoms. Before transport, atoms are cooled in the mainchamber. (a) After cooling is finished, the transport ODT is slowly ramped on toatoms in the main chamber for catching and trapping atoms in the ODT laser beam.
(b) The main chamber magnetic trap is turned off suddenly, and atoms are held in the
ODT beam for ∼ 500 ms until sloshing motion of atoms induced during the sudden
turn-off of magnetic trap is suppressed. Transport starts by moving the focus lens.
The transport distance is typically ∼ 360 mm. (c),(d) Atoms are transferred to theanti ODT beam from the initial ODT beam (see text).

694.2.2

Cross Optical Dipole Trap: Combination trap

The trap geometry of the anti-ODT beam is highly elongated; the trap frequencies
are ω⊥ ∼ 600 Hz (along the perpendicular direction), ωk ∼ 5 Hz (along the beam
propagation axis) at the maximum power P = 600 mW. The evaporative coolingprocess is slow and inefficient with such a low trapping frequency ωk . In our setup,
BEC could not be achieved by evaporative cooling in a single anti-ODT beam.
In order to increase trapping frequency ωk along the weak axis of the anti-ODT,
an additional ODT laser beam (called the cross-ODT) is utilized. The focus sizeof the cross ODT is 55µm (1/e2 radius). After the atoms are transported into theanti-ODT, the cross ODT beam is turned on. The power is linearly ramped up to
600 mW in 2 s, providing a high trapping frequency of ωk ∼ 200 Hz.

4.3

Production of BEC in the Science Chamber

In typical experiments performed in the main chamber, atoms are cooled and condensed into BEC by the following sequence of cooling techniques: MOT, opticalmolasses, and rf-induced evaporative cooling in magnetic trap.
A BEC in the science chamber could be produced in two different ways:
there could be two experimental procedures.
1. BEC is made in the main chamber, and transported to the science chamberusing the transport ODT.
2. Cold atoms (but not cold enough to condense into BEC) are made in the mainchamber, and transported to the science chamber. The BEC is achieved in thescience chamber by further evaporation cooling.
Option 1 is normally employed in the Na BEC experiment at MIT.([76, 110])
However, implementation of this scheme is difficult with Rb atoms due to different
properties between Rb and Na, such as mass, three body recombination rate, etc.[117]In our experimental setup, it was observed that Rb BEC becomes unstable easily anddecay very fast in the transport ODT during the transport.
70

In contrast to a BEC, the thermal gas can be transported without significant loss,
since the thermal gas is relatively immune to heating compared to BEC. The number
and temperature of cold atoms transported in the science chamber were found to bestable and sufficient to be condensed into BEC. The scheme # 2 has been exploitedas our main cooling scheme offering consistent performance of BEC production.
In scheme # 2 , the cooling sequence in the main chamber is slightly modified;during the last rf-induced evaporation cooling step, the rf ramp is stopped at ∼ 500
kHz above the BEC transition. The transport ODT is then ramped in 2 s. The
main chamber magnetic trap turns off suddenly, and transport starts as described in
section 4.2. After delivery of atoms to the anti-ODT, the cross ODT is turned on torealize a tight combination trap. The evaporation cooling is then performed in the
combination trap by ramping down the trap depth in about 2 s. A typical protocol
for the production of BEC is shown in Fig.4-6. After ramp-down of the combination
trap, atoms are held in a trap for additional 100 ms to allow residual thermal atoms
to evaporate. Finally, the BEC is achieved in the combination trap.
Images of a BEC with 13 ms time-of-flight are displayed in Fig. 4-7 In the combination trap, the trapping force is mainly provided by the anti-ODT, since it hasa tighter focal spot than the cross-ODT. The trap depth of the combination trap iscontrolled by varying the anti-ODT laser power. Fig. 4-7 also shows how the BEC
fraction (or BEC temperature) is controlled by the final ODT depth.
Typical frequencies of the combination trap are ω⊥ = 2π ×150 Hz, ωk = 2π ×25 Hz(cigar shape), and the atom number N is on the order of 104 . BEC is prepared in
the hyperfine state |F = 1, mF = −1i, same as the initial hyperfine state of cold
atoms prepared in the main chamber. We observed that the atoms stay in the same
hyperfine state without undergoing spin flip during turn-off of the main chambermagnetic trap coils and transport, even if an additional bias B-field is not applied. It
is a combination of the Earth bias field (∼ 0.5 G) and ambient B-field in the laboratorythat prevents atoms from spin flipping. Thanks to the ambient field, the B-field does
not cross zero in the path of transport, and the spin of atoms adiabatically follows
B-field direction so that atoms are safely delivered to the science chamber without
71

(a)

(b)

Figure 4-6: Experimental procedure for BEC in the science chamber. (a) Atomtransport procedure. The atoms transported to the science chamber are transferredfrom the transport ODT to the anti ODT between t = 6 and t = 8 sec. The cross
ODT laser beam is then ramped up to form a combination trap (anti ODT + cross
ODT). (b) Evaporation cooling procedure in the combination trap. The anti ODT
is ramped down first followed by cross ODT. The evaporation cooling is normally
performed in a few seconds. After the ramp down of the combination trap depth,
atoms are held for another few hundred ms to evaporate residual thermal atoms.

72

150

87 mW

125
100
75
50
25
50

100

150

200

68 mW

150
125
100
75
50
25
50

100

150

150

200

56 mW

125
100
75
50
25
50

100

150

200

53 mW

150
125
100
75
50
25
50

100

150

175

200

49 mW

150
125
100
75
50
25
50

100

150

200

Figure 4-7: Emergence of BEC in the combination trap. BEC emerges from a thermal
atomic cloud as the trap depth lowers. The number denoted on the right of plots isthe power of the anti ODT, which determines trap depth.

73D = 51 mm

f = 73 mm
repumping
laser
beam

imaging
laser
beam

Figure 4-8: Imaging setup for the science chamber.
spin flip.

4.4

Imaging

The science chamber is designed in particular for high-resolution imaging. A big top
viewport with a 400 diameter window is close to the center of the vacuum chamber.
Its large solid angle is suitable for high numerical aperture optics. The imaging setupof the science chamber is illustrated in Fig. 4-8.
The imaging process starts with pumping atoms into the F = 2 ground hyperfine
state using a repumping laser beam tuned to 52 S1/2 F = 1 → 52 P3/2 F = 2 transition.
Immediately the imaging beam (cycling transition 52 S1/2 F = 2 → 52 P3/2 F = 3)
illuminates the atoms, and the shadow of atoms is collected with a CCD camera(absorption imaging). The duration of the imaging laser pulse is chosen to be shortenough to minimize atomic motion during the imaging. Typical exposure time is
50µs.
74

Figure 4-9: The configuration of a high resolution imaging lens. It consists of four
200 -diameter spherical lenses. The rightmost plane glass represents the viewport.

4.4.1

High Resolution Lens

The resolving power of a lens is determined by its numerical aperture (NA). The
imaging resolution of a lens is proportional to λ/(NA) (λ is wave length of imaging
light). To obtain higher NA, a lens should cover a larger solid angle coming from theimaging target.
Four 2, 00 diameter spherical lenses (8 lens surfaces) were assembled for our imaging
lens system. 6 out of 8 lens surfaces are spherically curved, and 2 are flat. The
configuration of lenses was optimized using a ray-tracer program. Detailed dimensionsof the lens stack are given in the appendix A. The focal length of the lens stack is
determined to be 73 mm. The numerical aperture for our lens stack is ∼ 0.3 providing
an optical resolution of ∼ 2 µm.
After passing the high-resolution lens stack, imaging light ray is sent to 2 00 diameter f=750 mm lens to be focused and imaged on a CCD camera. With 73 mm
objective lens and 750 mm camera lens, the magnification factor M of the imaging
system is ∼ 10. In order to avoid optical aberation related with off-center rays suchas coma, or astigmatism, both the lens stack and 750 mm lens are mounted on thesame optics cage system keeping the center line of lenses aligned.
75

4.5

Optical Lattice

In our experiment, a 3-D cubic optical lattice potential is employed. Optical lattices
are created by retro-reflecting incoming laser beam and forming standing waves. The
optical lattice axes were chosen to be along three orthogonal directions.
In general, an optical lattice potential is formed not only by counter propagating
laser beams but also by any pair of intersecting laser beams. As a consequence, there
would be “unwanted” optical lattice potentials created by interference between two
different axis laser beams. The optical lattice potential formed by two laser beams
along the different axes (i.e. laser #1, #2) is given by (see the section 3.1.2)pVlatt (r, t) = V1 + V2 + 2 V1 V2 (e1 · e2 )Re e−i((k1 −k2 )·r−(ω1 −ω2 )t)(4.1)

where V1 , V2 are the potential energy depth induced by each laser beam. The polarizations of two laser beams were chosen to be orthogonal(e1 · e2 = 0), and the frequency
difference (∆ω = ω1 − ω2 ) to be very large in order to remove the interference termof Eq.(4.1) between different lattice axes. The frequency detuning ∆ω was set to−3, 0, 3, MHz respectively for three lattice laser beams.
Typical optics layout for optical lattices is drawn in Fig.4-10. The IR laser isdelivered to the optics setup by an optical fiber. The power of the laser is monitored
by a photo diode. This signal is sent to a PID control box, which actively stabilizes andcontrols the laser power. The polarization of the beam is first set to linear polarization
by a polarized beam splitter(PBS) cube. The angle of the linear polarization is thenrotated by λ/2 wave plate to the desired angle. After the IR laser beam size isadjusted by a telescope, it is focused onto the atoms, and is retro-reflected by adichroic mirror to form the lattice potential. Dichroic mirrors that reflect 1064 nm
IR laser but transmit 780 nm light (87 Rb D-2 line) are used so that imaging along alattice axis is possible.
76

Science Chamber
Dichroic mirror

Dichroic mirror
imaging beam

PID
controller

photodetector
λ/2

optical fiber

Figure 4-10: Optics layout for the optical lattice setup. An IR laser beam deliveredby an optical fiber is focused on atoms. The retro-reflected beam is focused on theatoms again to form a standing wave. Dichroic mirrors (reflects 1064 nm light andtransmits 780 nm light) are used for imaging along the lattice axis.

4.5.1

IR Laser System for the Optical Lattice1064 nm IR laser is employed for our optical lattice. such lasers are commonly usedin material processing and medical purpose, and high power is available at affordable
cost. Our 1064 nm IR laser system is manufactured by IPG photonics. The laser unit
consists of two parts: a seed laser (MODEL:YLD-0.01-1064-SF) and a fiber amplifier(MODEL: YLD-0.01-1064-SF). The seed laser is a 1064 nm ND:YAG single modelaser pumped by a laser diode. Output power is normally ∼ 10mW with a linewidthof 100 kHz.1 The seed laser is coupled into the fiber laser amplifier. Our fiber amplifierlaser unit can amplify up to 20 W.
The high power IR laser beam is then distributed to six laser beams: three ODTbeams, three optical lattice beams. They are delivered from the laser table to each
optics setup on the BEC machine optics table through optical fibers. The IR laser
beam setup is illustrated in Fig. 4-11. The IR laser is split into two beams by beam
splitter cubes, and the splitting ratio is controlled by λ/2 waveplate located between
1

As of 2008, the laser diode of our seed laser unit runs on fixed current mode. Power mode causes
frequency instability77

λ/2 λ/4
Closet Latticeλ/2 λ/4
Transport ODTλ/2 λ/4
Tool Latticeλ/2 λ/4
Anti ODT1064 nm IR laser

AOM+27 MHzAOM-27 MHz

λ/2
AOM-30 MHz

Vertical Lattice

λ/2

λ/2
AOM
+30 MHzλ/2 λ/4

λ/2
AOM-33 MHz

Cross ODT

λ/2
AOM
+33 MHzλ/2 λ/4

λ/2
λ/4

Figure 4-11: IR laser setup. The IR laser beam passes through telescope optics
to adjust the beam size to an optical isolator inlet. After the optical isolator, theIR laser beam is split into 6 beams. The power and frequency of each laser beamis adjusted by AOM’s. The frequency detunings of laser beams are shown in the
figure. Non polarization-maintaining optical fibers are used in our experiments, andthe polarization of out-coupled light is adjusted by two waveplates (λ/2, λ/4) locatedbefore the fiber coupler shown in the figure.

78

the cubes. The frequency of the laser beams is modulated by AOMs which different
frequency offsets relative to the initial λ = 1064 nm laser beam. This ensures thatthe interference between different IR laser beams is suppressed.
In general, the laser system for a red-detuned optical lattice must be far detuned
from the atomic transition in order to suppress spontaneous light scattering and atomloss. 1064 nm IR laser is sufficiently far detuned from the 87 Rb D-2 line(780 nm),for spontaneous scattering rate to be very low. For example the spontaneous lightscattering rate γ is ∼ 0.02 Hz in a deep optical lattice with a depth of 35 ER .

4.5.2

Optical Lattice Alignment

Each axis of the optical lattice beam is aligned as follows
1. Set up the optics: Arrange optics for optical lattice as in Fig. 4-10.
2. Find the position of atoms: Image a trapped BEC (in-situ) along the latticeaxis. Keep the CCD camera at the same position for the next step.
3. Find and align the lattice laser spot: Set the CCD camera mode to alignmode. Turn on the lattice IR laser beam, and move mirrors or lenses to find the
IR laser beam spot on the camera. (CAUTION: While finding and locating
the laser spot on the CCD camera, attention is required to avoid burning the
CCD camera. Focused IR laser beam can damage the CCD chip easily, andthe damaged pixel will be permanently dead. The power of the IR laser
system must be turned down to minimum. Additional attenuation of
the IR laser beam should be properly done by using high-ND2 filters.
) Once the laser spot is found, steer and focus it on the same position as of theatoms in the image acquired in step 2.
4. Retro-reflect the lattice beam: Set up the retro-reflection mirror. Whenthe retro-reflected laser beam overlaps very well with the initial incoming latticebeam, it is coupled back into the optical fiber delivering the incident beam. This
2

Normally ND 4-6

79back-coupled laser beam follows the exact same beam path of the initial laser
beam in the opposite way until it is reflected by the optical isolator shown in
Fig. 4-11.

5. Align the retro-reflection mirror: The retro-reflection mirror could bealigned by monitoring and maximizing the power of the retro-reflected laser
beam rejected from the optical isolator. Typically 5 to 10 % of the initial laser
beam is also reflected from the optical isolator and gives huge DC offset in theintensity of the reflected laser beam. The retro-reflected laser beam signal isnormally smaller than this DC offset. In order to suppress this DC offset, an
optical chopper system is utilized. The retro-reflected laser beam signal now
becomes an AC square wave signal oscillating at the chopper frequency. By
filtering out the DC component from the signal, only the retro-reflected beam
signal is measured.

6. “Ask” atoms how well the optical lattice is aligned : By applying a short
12.5 µs pulse of the lattice laser beam onto BEC, Kapitza-Dirac(KD) diffractionof atoms is obtained. The final alignment is done by maximizing the intensityof the diffraction pattern.

4.5.3

Lattice Beam Calibration

The depth of optical lattices is calibrated by analyzing the Kapitza-Dirac diffraction
pattern of BEC [57]. When a very short pulse of standing wave laser beam is applied
to atoms3 , the wavefunction of atoms is modified by the phase imprint from the pulse.
The phase imprinted by the AC stark shift of the standing wave pulse is given by
1
φ(z) =~Z τ
dtVlatt (z) =
0

3

V0 τ
cos(2kz)~(4.2)

The pulse duration τ should be shorter than the photon recoil time scale 1/ωR so that theatomic motion during the pulse time is considered to be very small. (Kapitza-Dirac regime)80

The wavefunction of BEC is modified by the phase factor eiφ−iφ(z)|Φi → e|ΦiBEC =

∞
X

n

i Jn

n=−∞



V0 τ
~



ei2nkz |ΦiBEC

where the Jacobi-Anger identity is used (exp [iα cos β] =P∞

n=−∞ in(4.3)

Jn (α) exp[inβ]),and Jn ’s are Bessel functions of the first kind. In Eq.(4.3), the phase factor ei2nkz
implies that states with momentum 2n~k are populated. The population of the
momentum state 2n~k is given by
 
2
V0 τ
Pn = J n~(4.4)

From images of KD diffraction patterns, populations of each momentum state aremeasured with various lattice laser powers P . By fitting the measured populations
to Eq.(4.4), the lattice depth V0 is calibrated as a function of the laser power P .
Typically τ = 12.5µs pulse has been used in the calibration. Note that 12.5 µs is
much shorter than a recoil time scale, which is 500 µs for λ = 1064nm.
For the calibration of optical lattice, different methods, such as Bragg pulse, arealso employed in other groups’ experiments. (See Ref.[87] for details on calibration
methods)

4.5.4

Technical Issues

Several technical issues have been encountered while the science chamber and opticallattice system were built. Two points are addressed in this section.
1. High power optics: When IR laser is used for optical lattices or opticaltrappings, high power is normally required, since the frequency of IR lasers is
far-detuned from the atomic resonance. Such a high power laser beam requires
high power optics. Optics which are non-compatible with high power leads toresidual absorption and beam distortion.
The distortion is caused by local heating of optics. The temperature increases
only near the laser beam path, resulting in a non-uniform temperature distri81

(a)

(b)

Figure 4-12: Thermal lensing effect in optics. The profile of laser beam was measured
after passing a non-high-power PBS cube with (a) low power (1 W), and (b) highpower (10 W). With high power, temperature of optics near the center of laser beamincreases higher than other part of optics. It results in distortion of laser beam profilesuch as hollow core shape.

bution. A temperature gradient leads to a non-uniform index of refraction andto distortion of the beam profile. This is the so-called “thermal lensing effect”.
When the laser power was higher than ∼ 10 W, the thermal lensing effectappeared on polarized beam splitter(PBS) cubes of the IR laser setup describedin Fig.4-11. It severely degraded our optical fiber coupling efficiency. Thermal
lensing effects on laser beam profile are illustrated in the Fig.4-12. PBS cube
is normally made up of two pieces of triangular shaped glass glued together byan adhesive material. It is this adhesive material which leads to the thermal
lensing effect. The problem was solved by using high energy PBS cubes in whicha pair of triangular shaped glass is optically contacted instead of by adhesivematerial.
Thermal lensing effects also occurred in our optical isolator, which uses normal
glued PBS cubes as polarizers. A high power isolator is now employed in oursystem which uses Brewster window polarizer instead of normal glued PBS
cubes.
82

2. Mechanical vibration We have seen the life time and the size of the BEC
in either combination trap or optical lattice to be strongly affected by acoustic
noise such as talking in the laboratory leading to unstable performance of themachine. There are several suspicious steps where the noise effects are significant: the switch-over from the transport ODT to the anti ODT, the evaporation
step in the combination trap, ramping of optical lattice.
In our experimental setup, nine IR laser beams for ODTs and lattices are focusedat the same position, and their beam pathes are quite long. Small mechanicalvibrations are able to disturb the laser beam alignment and create sloshingor heating of the atoms. To make things worse, the frequency of mechanicalvibrations is similar to the frequency of atomic motion. Even though the noisesensitive part has not yet been identified , mechanical vibration effects could
be reduced by removing all the sound in the laboratory, mainly human talking.
Nevertheless, such noise issues must be properly addressed in the near future.

83

84

Chapter 5
Manipulation of BEC with an
Optical LatticeThis chapter discusses optical lattices as manipulation tools for ultracold atomic experiments. Two experiments performed with Rb BEC using optical lattices as engineering tools[19, 16] are briefly introduced. Please see the reprints included in Appendix
G(Ref.[16]) and E(Ref.[19]) for detailed discussions.

5.1

Optical Lattice as a Manipulation Tool

Optical periodic potentials have been employed in a number of a BEC experiments
for manipulation and engineering of a BEC. The roles of a optical lattice as a manipulation tool can fall into three categories as follows.

5.1.1

Kaptiza-Dirac Scattering: Two-Way Coherent Splitter

When a very short pulse of an optical standing wave is applied, a BEC is coherently
scattered (Kapitza-Dirac scattering) into momentum states with p = ± n×2~kL along
the direction of the standing wave with integers n = 0, 1, 2, · · · (kL : recoil momentumof optical lattice laser). Kapitza-Dirac (K-D) scattering has been widely employed as
85

(a)

(b)
20 µs

30 µs

40 µs

0.90

50 µs

Fraction in 0

10 µs

0.80

0.70
0

200

400

600

τ (µs)

Figure 5-1: Oscillating interference fringes. (a) Time-of-flight images of a BEC with
the K-D scattered atom pairs. The fraction of atoms in |0i state oscillates with a time
duration τ between two short standing wave pulses. (b) Oscillation of the fraction of
atoms in |0i.
a coherent splitter of cold atoms[59, 10, 51, 93].
K-D scattering was utilized as a coherent splitter in our experiment of photon recoil
momentum measurement[16] for atomic interferometry. In our experiment reported
in Ref.[16], a standing wave pulse for K-D scattering was applied to a BEC to prepare
two coherent momentum states |p = ±2n~ki. After time τ the second pulse for K-D
scattering was applied, and the two out-coupled momentum states come back to theinitial momentum state |0i leading to interference between the initial BEC atoms
and the atoms that were out-coupled and then returned to |0i. We observed thatthe interference fringe oscillated with a recoil frequency of a laser light(Fig.5-1). By
measuring the frequency of fringe oscillation, the recoil momentum of atoms causedby the absorption of a photon in a dispersive medium was determined to be n~k (n:the index of refraction of gas).

5.1.2

Bragg Scattering: One-Way Coherent Splitter

A “moving” standing wave formed by two laser beams with a slight frequency difference ∆ω coherently populate the states satisfying the Bragg condition: momentum
of atom p = ~∆k(~∆k: momentum difference between the two laser beams) and theenergy of atom E(p) = ~∆w. This scheme has been used for the study of an excitation86

spectrum of a BEC[126, 115], the spectroscopy of a dynamic structure factor[113],
matter wave mixing experiments[63, 125], an out-coupler for an atom seed[103], etc.
Bragg scattering was utilized as a coherent out-coupler to create a small atom seed
for a 4-wave mixing in the experiment presented in the next section.

5.1.3

Optical Lattice: Energy Dispersion Modifier

The modification of an energy dispersion relation from free particle E 0 (p) = p2 /2m
to the energy band structureEn (p) in the presence of optical lattices is widely utilized for various purpose. Remarkable phenomena in optical lattices such as Blochoscillation[9], Landau zener tunneling[89] has been demonstrated in optical lattices.
Optical lattices have been utilized to engineer atomic mass in various cases: variable
mass[21] for the Josephson junction experiment, very high mass[94] for 1D Tonks gas
transition, negative mass[35, 34, 5] for the study of anomalous atomic motions.
As presented in the following section, the 4-wave mixing in 1 dimension wasdemonstrated by engineering an energy dispersion relation with a optical lattice.

5.2

1D Four Wave Mixing in an Optical LatticeThis section starts with one simple question: in one dimensional situation can two
particles with the same velocity collide?
In free space, a collision between two particles in the same momentum state is notpossible due to the energy-momentum conservation(or phase matching condition).
The energy dispersion in free space is simply given by E(p) = p2 /2m, and the energymomentum conservation law imposes
2E(p) 6= E(p + q) + E(p − q) for all q(5.1)

However, in a periodic potential, the energy dispersion relation E(p) becomes theenergy band En (p) with band indices n = 1, 2, 3 · · · . For the ground band, the energy
E0 (p) is bound within bandwidth energy, and the curvature of En (p) becomes negative
87

(a)

(b)
E

1st Brillouin Zone1

k2 - k0

0.8

k2 - 2 kL

0.6

k2
k0

0.4
0.2
-1

-0.5

k1 - k0
k1
0.5

1

quasimomentum [k L ]Figure 5-2: The energy dispersion relation and the phase matching condition in an
optical lattice with a depth of 0.5ER . (a)Black curve(dashed parabolic curve) showsthe energy dispersion in an optical lattice (in free space, respectively). The first
Brillouin zone is given by (−kL , kL ). In the ground band, two atoms with same
quasimomentum k0 can collide and scatter into two different states with momentum
k1 and k2 conserving the momentum and energy. The momentum state k2 outside
the first Brillouin zone is the same state with q = k2 − 2kL in the first Brillouin zone.
(b) A set of quasimomentum states satisfying the energy-momentum conservation ina lattice depth of 0.5ER . ∆ki = ki − k0 (i = 1, 2) are plotted.

near the first Brillouin zone boundary leading to collisions between two atoms withthe same quasimomentum q. This scattering process is illustrated in Fig. 5-2.
For a given momentum k0 , there is one pair of states with k1 and k2 satisfying
the phase matching condition as shown in Fig. 5-2 (b). For a momentum k0 < 0.5kL ,phase matching condition is not satisfied. At momentum k0 = 0.5kL the scattering
process becomes possible for ∆k1,2 = ±1kL ; the two scattered states k1 = −0.5kL ,k2 = 1.5kL are indeed the same state with quasimomentum −k0 = −0.5kL in thefirst Brillouin zone.(k1 ≡ k2 (mod 2kL )) As k0 increases from 0.5kL , the difference inquasimomenta of the two scattered states, k1 and k2 − 2kL , increases ((b) in Fig. 5-2)
For the experimental demonstration, a BEC was loaded into a variable quasimomentum state k0 by utilizing a moving optical lattice. Experimental description on
moving optical lattice is given in the section 6.3.1 and in the appendix E. When BEC
was loaded into quasimomentum state k0 > 0.5kL , a scattering of BEC atoms into
two discrete momentum states was observed. Fig. 5-3 shows that the two scattered88k0=0.59kL

k0=0.69kL

k0=0.64kL

k0

k0=0.74kL

} ∆k

1

k1
k 2 - 2 kL

Figure 5-3: Atom pairs scattered from a BEC. A BEC in a quasimomentum state
k0 and two scattered states k1 and k2 − 2kL are imaged after 43 ms of ballistic
expansion. As k0 increases, the momentum of the scattered states changes according
to the phase matching condition. Our observation agrees with the phase matchingcondition predicted in Fig.5-2 (b).
states are confined in the first Brillouin zone with momentum of k1 and k2 − 2kL . It
was also found that the momentum difference between two scattered states increases
with the initial momentum k0 .
When atoms with quasimomentum k1 were seeded to the condensate of k0 byusing Bragg pulse, the scattering process was observed to be accelerated in generating
the two phase matched scattered atoms of k1 , and k2 (4-wave amplification in 1D:
2k0 → k1 + k2 ).

89

90

Chapter 6
Phase Diagram for a BEC Moving
in an Optical Lattice
The stability of superfluid currents in a system of ultracold bosons was studied using a moving optical lattice. The phase diagram for disappearance of superfluidity as
a function of momentum was measured in the superfluid phase to the Mott insulating phase. This experimental study was reported in Ref. [88], which is included inAppendix C.

6.1

Introduction

The realization of condensed matter systems using ultracold atoms brings the precision and control of atomic physics to the study of many-body physics. Many studies
have focussed on Mott insulator physics, an important paradigm for the suppressionof transport by particle correlations. Previous studies of the superfluid(SF)-to-Mott
insulator(MI) transition in optical lattices with ultracold bosons [65, 90, 52, 116, 43,
49, 17, 44] adressed the quenching of superfluidity below a critical lattice depth. Here
we extend these studies into a second dimension by studying stability of superfluid
current as a function of momentum and lattice depth as suggested in Ref. [2]. Thesetransport measurements show the stability of superfluid at finite current, which is a
non-equilibrium state.
91

Transport measurements extend previous work on stationary systems in two regards. First, superfluidity near the MI transition has only been indirectly inferredfrom coherence measurements, whereas in this work, we characterize the superfluid
regime by observing a critical current for superfluid flow through the onset of dissipation. Second, previous studies [65, 90, 52, 116, 43, 49, 17, 44] were not able
to precisely locate the phase transition, since the observed excitation spectrum andatomic interference pattern did not abruptly change [52, 43, 49], partially due to theinhomogeneous density. In contrast, the sudden onset of dissipation provides a clear
distinction between the two quantum phases. In the SF phase, current flows without
dissipation if the momentum does not exceed a critical momentum, while in the MIphase the critical momentum vanishes and transport is dissipative.

6.2

Critical Momentum of Superfluid Current in
an Optical Lattice

As discussed in the section 2.4, the stability of superfluid is closely related to theexcitation spectrum ω(q) of system. A relative motion of superfluid opens a decay
channel to excitation modes with ωd (q) = q · v (v: relative speed of superfluid), andthose excitation modes of q 0 satisfying ωd (q 0 ) = ω(q 0 ) become populated resulting infragmentation of the superfluid into such momentum states q 0 .
The elementary excitation spectrum ω(q) is modified in the presence of an opticallattice to have a phonon part (long wavelength) and a band structure part (near the
1st Brillouin zone boundary, Bogoliubov band)[72, 123, 84, 124]. In the long wave
length limit (q → 0), the excitation spectrum in optical lattice has a phonon branch,and the Landau instability would still occur in optical lattice system when the systemmoves faster than the sound speed.
Near the first Brillouin zone boundary, the excitation spectrum in an opticallattice deviates from the free space excitation spectrum. In free space, its excitation
spectrum is a continuous function from 0 to ∞, while in the optical lattice it is changed92

to band structure, a bound and periodic function of quasimomentum q. This gives
rise to another type of instability mechanism in optical lattice: dynamical instability.
Two different types of instability are discussed in the following sections

6.2.1

Energetic & Dynamical Instability

A simple but intuitive picture on instabilities in superfluid can be obtained by considering small fluctuations added to the superfluid ground state[130]. A BEC loaded intoa one-dimensional optical lattice can be described by the G-P equation (Eq.(2.13))
with a periodic potential Vtrap (x) = V0 cos( 2πx) (lattice spacing a = λ/2)a
µφ(x) =


2πx~2 ∂ 22+ V0 cos() + g |φ(x)| φ(x)2m ∂x2a(6.1)

The superfluid moving with momentum q in the optical lattice is described by
Bloch waves φq (x) = eiqx ψq (x). Assume that fluctuations with momentum Q are
added to the system. They are expressed also in the form of Bloch waves


δφq,Q = eiqx uq (x, Q)eiQx + vq∗ (x, Q)e−iQx(6.2)

All the wave vectors q, Q and the functions φq (x), uq (x, Q), vq (x, Q) have periodic
boundary conditions1 . There are two different wave vectors q and Q: BEC is assumed
to flow with momentum ~q, and we perturb the BEC with wavevector Q to see its
stability. The energy change δEq,Q associated with fluctuations δφq,Q can be obtained
numerically. Detailed numerical results and mathematical discussions are given in[130, 85]. There are three cases for the value of δEq,Q
1. δE > 0: In this situation, the fluctuations increase the energy of the system. If
δEq,Q is positive for all Q, the system moving with q is stable against fluctuations.
2. δE < 0: The fluctuating state which has negative δEq,Q becomes energetically
1 2π
The quasimomentum ~q, ~Q is in the first Brillouin zone ({− 21 2π
a ∼ 2 a }). The functions are
periodic with lattice spacing a.
1

93

favored. These fluctuation mode can be populated through excitation processes,
and the system becomes unstable.
For stationary BEC (q = 0), δE0,Q is positive for all Q implying that a stationary BEC in an optical lattice is stable. With increasing momentum q, δEq,Q
approaches zero and finally starts to become negative for Q near 0 (long wavelength excitation) at a critical momentum qc1 . Above a critical value qc1 , thesystem can decay through phonon excitations (Q → 0) resulting in instability.(Energetic (or Landau) instability)
3. δE is imaginary: When q is increased above a certain value qc2 = 14 2π(or quarteraof the first Brillouin zone size), δEq,Q starts becoming imaginary for Q near the). Imaginary energy δE implies thatfirst Brillouin zone boundary (Q = ± 12 2πasmall fluctuations grow exponentially leading to a decay of system.(Dynamical
instability)
The two types of instabilites are distinguished by the quasimomentum Q of
the fluctuation modes that induce instability, Q = ± 12 2π
for the dynamicalainstability, while Q = 0 for the energetic instability. For more discussions on
dynamic and energetic instability see Refs. [106, 131, 62]

6.2.2

Decay Process and Elementary Excitation

Decay processes through energetic and dynamical instabilities can be understood in
the context of the spectrum of elementary excitation. The excitation spectrum of a
BEC moving in an optical lattice is given in Fig. 6-1 for various momentum q of
BEC.
The excitation spectrum in Fig.6-1 implies that decay process could occur by
exciting two different excitation modes: Q ∼ 0 and Q = ±kL .
• Q ∼ 0 (Energetic Instability): When the BEC moves faster than the soundspeed ((b) in Fig. 6-1), the excitation energy near Q ∼ 0 becomes lower thanthe unperturbed initial state. The system can lower its energy by exciting
phonon modes, and the superfluid becomes unstable.
94

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Q1
E q (Q1)

Figure 6-1: Excitation spectrum of a BEC moving in optical lattice with momenta
q. In each plot, the energy and momentum are given in the frame of the moving
BEC.(not a lab frame) (a) linear phonon mode appears in the spectrum. (b) If the
BEC moves faster than the speed of sound, the energy of excitations becomes lower
than the energy of the initial unperturbed state. (c) The phase matching condition(momentum-energy conservation) for excitations. (d) Two excitation modes with
Q = ±kL satisfy the phase matching condition at q = 0.5kL . Those excitation modes
are populated leading to fragmentation and instability of the system [Dynamical
instability].

95

Let us consider how BEC emits phonons and decays. In creating (or annihilating) quasi-particles, a phase matching condition (i.e. momentum-energy
conservation) must be considered. For example, in (c) of Fig. 6-1 a quasiparticle with momentum Q1 is emitted to a lower energy Eq (Q1 ). The phasematching condition implies that another quasi-particle with momentum shouldbe emitted. As (c) of Fig. 6-1 shows the phase matching condition is not satisfied in the excitation spectrum. Therefore this process is not possible unlessadditional potential energy or particles are added. For example, in (c) of Fig.
6-1 thermal atoms can take away excess energy Eq (0) − Eq (Q1 ) satisfying thephase matching condition. Energetic instabilities induced by thermal atoms
have been studied experimentally [106].
• Q ∼ kL (Dynamic Instability): At q = 0.5kL , excitation energy of Q = ±kL
becomes equal to the energy of the initial state as shown in (d) of Fig. 6-1. In
creating a pair of excited particles with Q = +kL , −kL , both momentum andenergy are conserved[33, 19].
Eq (0) + Eq (0) = Eq (kL ) + Eq (−kL )(6.3)

Above qc2 = 0.5kL , the set of excitations that satisfy the phase matching condition expands around Q = ±kL . The system becomes dynamically unstablefor q > qc2 = 0.5kL . Fig 6-2 shows that momentum states with Q = ±kL are
populated at the onset of dynamical instability (qc2 = 0.5kL ).

6.2.3

Superfluidity in the Regime of Strong Interaction

So far, we have considered superfluid flow in the regime of weak interaction (or inshallow optical lattices). For weak interactions (U/J → 0), the system approaches
single-particle physics in a periodic potential well described by Bloch states and band
structure. The critical momentum for a stable current-carrying state is 0.5 ~kL [130].
However, these analyses neglect the growing importance of quantum correlations
96

(a)

(b)

q = 0 kLq = 0.5 k L

kL

2kL

2 kL

Figure 6-2: The onset of a dynamical instability. Time-of-flight images of interference
pattern of BEC released from an optical lattice and the integrated images are shown
for a BEC with momentum q = (a) 0 kL and (b) 0.5 kL . The optical lattice depth
was set to 3 ER . (b) shows the population of excited states with Q = ±kL at theonset of the dynamical instability. Since the quasi-momentum of two excitation states
Q = ±kL differ by a reciprocal vector 2kL , they are indeed the same state within thefirst Brillouin zone, and only one momentum component is visible in the image (b).

97

Critical Momentum p c [pr ]0.5dissipative flow

0.4

n=1+ε
0.3
0.2

n=1

superfluid flow

0.1
0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

Interaction Strength u/uc
Figure 6-3: Phase diagram for stability of superfluid flow for commensurate andincommensurate filling. Commensurate system turns into the MI phase for u > uc ,and the critical momentum vanishes, while incommensurate system is not in the MIphase even for u > uc , and the critical momentum does not vanish. pr denotes arecoil momentum ~kL .

for larger lattice depth which leads to the SF-MI phase transition, where the critical
momentum for a superfluid current vanishes (qc = 0). The critical momentum decreases from 0.5kL with increasing interaction parameter U/J, and it vanishes at theMI transition (U/J)c . The critical momentum in between SF and MI phases has been
numerically studied using the mean field approach showing that critical momentum
decreases smoothly from 0.5~kL (weak interaction) to 0 (MI transition) with increasing U/J. The critical momentum is plotted as a function of u ≡ U/J in Fig. 6-3.
More detailed discussions of numerical methods are given in ref. [2, 98].
For u > uc , a homogenous system with incommensurate filling n = 1 +  is notin the MI phase, but stays in the superfluid phase. The n = 1 +  system may beconsidered as a dilute superfluid (or holes if  is negative) on top of the MI backgroundatoms, and the critical momentum remains equal to 0.5kL for u > uc . The critical
momentum for n = 1 +  is displayed in Fig. 6-3. The critical momentum decreases
from 0.5~kL initially, but increases back to 0.5~kL .
986.2.4

Effect of the Inhomogeneous Density Profile

Our measurement of critical momentum of the n = 1 system was not limited by theinhomogeneous density profile. For our range of lattice depths, low critical momenta
and the onset of dissipation occur only near the formation of MI shells with integer
occupation numbers n[2]. The onset of dissipation related to the n = 1 domains occurs
at smaller momentum than for any other n (Fig.6-3). For instance, with increasing
momentum p the n = 1 domain becomes unstable first, and this triggers dissipation
over the whole atomic cloud[2]. Therefore, the breakdown of superfluid flow in thesystem was determined by the formation of the n = 1 domain and was not smearedout by the inhomogeneous density.

6.3

Experimental Setup

This experiment was performed in the main chamber. For detailed description of themain chamber of the Rb BEC machine, I refer to other theses: Ref. [117, 13] (generalmachine description), Ref. [15] (optical lattice setup).
A BEC of 87 Rb atoms in |1, −1i state was prepared and trapped in a combinationof an Ioffe-Pritchard magnetic trap and an optical dipole trap. The number of atoms
in the BEC was 2 × 105 . The magnetic trap frequencies were ωx,y = 2π × 40 Hz
radially and ωz = 2π × 4.6Hz axially. The laser beam for the optical dipole trap wasoriented along the x axis. This laser beam was retro-reflected and the polarizationof the retro-reflected beam was rotated in order to minimize interference between thetwo beams2 . Along the vertical direction (y axis) a lattice was formed by a retroreflected laser beam. For the z axis, a moving lattice was created by introducing
a small frequency detuning δf between the two counter-propagating laser beams
using AOMs driven by phase-locked frequency generators. The 3D optical lattice wasramped up exponentially in 160 ms. A x-axis optical lattice is ramped by rotating thepolarizations of the retro-reflected beam to increase interference between two counterpropagating beams, while other axes optical lattices were turned on by turning on
2

The polarization of retro-reflected beam was controlled by liquid crystal variable retarder.

99

the power. All lattice beams had an 1/e2 waist of 100 − 200µm.

6.3.1

Moving Lattice

For transport measurements, we moved an optical lattice [9, 39] which provides more
flexibility to change the momentum than exciting a dipole oscillation by displacementof the BEC [21, 40]. A moving optical lattice with velocity v = λ · δf /2 was createdalong the long axis of the BEC by introducing a small frequency detuning δf between
two counterpropagating lattice beams. If the velocity v(t) changes slowly enough not
to induce interband excitations, the initial Bloch state |p = 0i of the condensate in
the optical lattice adiabatically evolves into the currentcarrying state |p(t) = −mv(t)iwhere p is the quasimomentum. For increasing lattice depth, the effective mass of
atoms m∗ = [∂ 2 E(p)/∂p2 ] increases, and the group velocity vg = −(m/m∗ )v(t) decreases. As a consequence, atoms prepared in a moving lattice with quasimomentum
p = −mv travel in the frame of the moving lattice with vg and in the lab framewith velocity ∆v = v + vg = (1 − m/m∗ )v, which approaches v in a deep lattice.
Consequently, we observed that in a deep moving lattice atoms were dragged along
to the edge of the trapping region limiting the experimental time scale to probe fordissipation. This became an issue for larger values of p and was addressed by first
ramping up the lattice with p = 0 and then alternating the velocity of the moving
lattice, thus performing a low-frequency AC transport measurement instead of DC.

6.3.2

Adiabaticity of Moving Lattice

In order to adiabatically load a BEC in a current carrying state |p = −mv(t)i, theoptical lattice should be varied slowly enough not to create excitations such as higher
band states. The adiabaticity criterion is given~|hn, q|d|0, qi|  |En (q) − E0 (q)| for n > 0
dt

(6.4)

where |n, qi is a state with momentum q in nth band, and En (q) is energy of |n, qi.
100For the momentum change q(t), the adiabatic condition Eq.(6.4) imposesλd[~q(t)]  band gap
2 dt

(6.5)

The left term in the above condition readsλdλ(2π~)2 dm δf (t) =δf (t)2 dt
2
8ER dtSinusoidal frequency modulation is applied to one of moving lattice beams withδf (t) = fM sin(ω1 t). The adiabatic condition is then givenfM ω1 

(band gap)ER(2π~)2(6.6)

The maximum frequency modulation parameters in our experiment (fM ∼ 5 kHz3
ω1 = 2π × 10 Hz) satisfies this condition very well (bandgap energy is ∼ a few kHz,and recoil energy is 2 kHz).

6.4

Measurement of the Critical Momentum

6.4.1

Experimental procedure

Two sets of experimental procedures were used for measurement of the critical momentum, and our results were consistent for both.(Fig.6-4)
Close to the SF-MI phase transition, the lattice was increased to Vlatt with a fixed(and small) value of momentum p (dashed arrows in Fig. 6-4). After a variable
hold time thold at Vlatt the lattice was ramped down to zero, and the magnetic trap
switched off. After 33 ms of ballistic expansion, the atoms were imaged and thecondensate fraction was determined as a function of momentum by using a bimodal
fitting function.
For smaller lattice depths, the lattice was ramped up with p = 0 (Fig.
3δf = 4 kHz corresponds to half the recoil velocity v = (λ/2) · δf = 0.5 ~kL /m.

101

6-

Critical Momentum p c [pr ]0.5dissipative flow

0.4

superfluid flow

0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

Interaction u/uc
Strength
Figure 6-4: Phase diagram showing the stability of superfluid flow in an opticallattice and the experimental procedure. The gray curve shows the predicted boundary
between superfluid flow and dissipative flow phases for a three-dimensional gas witha commensurate filling of n = 1 atom per site[2]. The solid (dashed) arrows illustrate
the experimental trajectory used for small (large) lattice depths (see text for details).
4). Then a sinusoidal momentum modulation of the moving lattice with amplitude
pM = (mλ/2) fM was applied by modulating the frequency detuning δf = fM sin(ω1 t)
between the counterpropagating lattice beams. The 10 ms period of this momentum
modulation (ω1 = 2π × 100 Hz) was slow enough to meet the adiabaticity condition,
but fast enough to limit the displacement of the atomic cloud to less than a few µm.
Both the trapping potential and the optical lattice were then turned off suddenly.
Images were acquired after 33 ms of ballistic expansion. The time-of-filght images inFig. 6-5 show that superfluid becomes unstable above a certain momentum.

6.4.2

Determination of Critical Momentum

The condensate fraction of the center peak of the superfluid interference pattern
was recorded as a function of the momentum modulation amplitude pM . Several
cycles of the momentum modulation were applied to obtain a high contrast between
the stable and dissipative regimes. Fig. 6-6 (a) shows how the transition between
superfluid and dissipative flows becomes sharper with increasing number of cycles of
102

0 pr

0.12 p r

0.31 p r

0.32 p r

0.43 p r

Figure 6-5: Images of interference patterns released from an optical lattice at u/uc =0.61 moving with variable momentum. Instability occurred between p = 0.31pr and
0.32pr .
the momentum modulation. The critical momentum was determined from a log-log
plot of the condensate fraction as a function of momentum p [Fig. 6-6(b)]. Theintersection between two linear fit functions was taken as the critical momentum.
Our result was found to be consistent for different frequency ω1 and number of cyclesof the momentum modulation.

6.5

The Critical Point for the Quantum Phase Transition

The quantum phase transition from the superfluid to the Mott insulator has thefollowing signatures.
1. Appearance of energy gap ∆E in the excitation spectrum
2. Loss of long-range phase coherence
3. Loss of superfluid current
Most studies of the SF-MI phase transition monitor the coherence in the superfluid
phase through an interference pattern observed in the ballistic expansion resulting
from a sudden turn-off of the confining potential and lattice. Previous observationsof the phase transition found the experimental transition point to lie in the range
between 10 and 13 ER [52]. This uncertainty is related to the inhomogeneous density103

Condensate Fraction

(a)
0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

Momentum [pr ]

0.6

(b)
0.7

C. F.

C. F.

0.7
0.3
0.1

0.5

u /u c =0.22
0.1

u /u c =0.53
0.3

0.2 0.3 0.5

p [ pr ]0.1

0.2 0.3

p [ pr ]0.5

Figure 6-6: Determination of the critical momentum of superfluid flow. Shown isthe condensate fraction as a function of a momentum p. (a) Condensate fraction
with u/uc = 0.61 for a variable number of cycles of the momentum modulation (onecycle: × and blue line, two cycles:  and purple line, three cycles: N and red line).
A dashed vertical line indicates the critical momentum where instability begins tooccur. The two and three-cycle data are offset vertically for clarity. These data werefitted with an error function to guide the eye. (b)Condensate fraction on a log-log
scale for two different interaction strengths.

104dissipative
flow

0.4

0.3

pc

Critical Momentum pc [pr ]

0.5

0.2
0.1

0.3
0.2

superfluid
flow

0.0
0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

u /u c

0.1
0
0

0.25

0.50

0.75

1.0

1.25

1.50

1.75

2.0

Interaction Strength u /u c
Figure 6-7: Critical momentum for a condensate in a 3D lattice. The solid line shows
the theoretical prediction for the superfluid region. The horizontal solid line is a fit
to the data points in the MI phase. (Inset) Fit of critical momenta near the SF-MI
phase transition.

profile of trapped atoms and to the fact that the visibility of the interference extends
beyond the transition point due to short-range coherence in the MI phase[49]. It
has been suggested that observed kinks(Fig. 2 of Ref. [49]) in the visibility arelinked to the formation of the MI shells with occupation numbers n = 2 and 3[49].
Several authors have suggested other features in the momentum distribution beyond
coherent interference peaks as a more distinct signature of the phase transition[129,68]. Here we show that the disappearance of the critical momentum for superfluid
flow provides such a signature and allows the determination of the transition pointwith high precision.
Fig. 6-7 shows the critical momentum measured with various interaction strengthu. The critical point uc for the SF-MI phase transition can be deteremined as the point
where the critical momentum vanishes. Near the SF-MI phase transition, the criticalpmomentum approaches zero with the predicted functional form, pc ∝ 1 − u/uc [2].
Fitting the data points close to the SF-MI phase transition with this function, we
could determine the critical point for the SF-MI phase transition uc = 34.2(±2.0)
corresponding to 13.5(±0.2) ER .
105

Our result agrees with the mean-field theory prediction uc = 34.8 for n = 1 SFMI phase transition[65], and deviates by 2 σ from the predictions of uc = 29.34(2)of quantum monte carlo calculation[46, 20], which includes corrections beyond meanfield theory. This demonstrates that our method has the precision to identify nonmean-field corrections. However, to turn precision into accuracy, experiments or
QMC simulations [129, 46, 20] have to address corrections due to finite size, finite
temperature, and finite time to probe the onset of the instability. In our experiment,these corrections seemed to be small, but have not been characterized at the level of
1% in lattice depth.

6.6

Decay of the Superfluid Current in a 1D System

For studing the 1D system, we prepared an array of one-dimensional gas tubes byramping two pairs of optical lattice beams up to lattice depths of Vx = Vy = 30ER
supressing hopping between the tubes. After a hold time of 10 ms, a moving opticallattice(z-axis) was ramped up to various lattice depths. As in the 3D experiment,a momentum modulation was applied, after which the moving optical lattice wasramped down to zero, followed by the other two optical lattices. The condensate
fraction was determined after 33 ms of ballistic esxpansion as a function of the momentum modulation amplitude. The critical momentum, where the onset of dissipation begins, was identified from a log-log plot as in the 3D case. In contrast to sharptransition in 3D experiment, the transition from stable to unstable flow was observed
to be broad in the 1D gas. To characterize the width of the transition between stableand dissipative flow regimes, the data was fitted with error function, and the centerof the fitted error function was taken as the center of the transition. (Fig. 6-8 (b))
At a very shallow lattice depth of 0.25 ER , a sharp transition was observed, and themeasured critical momentum agreed very well with the prediction[2, 98], pc = 0.39pr .
However, slight increase of the lattice depth to 0.5 ER led to a significant decrease of106

Critical Momentum p c [pr ]

(a)
0.5
0.4

dissipative
flow

0.3
0.2

superfluid
flow

0.1

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

Interaction Strength u/u c
(b)
C. F.

C. F.

0.75

0.25 ER

0.75

0.50

0.75 ER

0.50
0.25

0.25
0

0.2

0.4

p [pr ]

0.6

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

p [pr ]

Figure 6-8: Critical momentum for a 1D gas in an optical lattice. (a) The gray line
indicates the mean-field theory prediction. The interaction strengths are normalized
by the mean-field prediction for uc = 5.8 × 2[65, 116]. Squares (crosses) represent
the measured critical momentum (the center of the transition). Measurements weretaken at lattice depths of 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.0, 2.0 ER . The lines between crosses andsquares indicate the width of the transition region. (b) Condensate fraction measured
at 0.25 ER and 0.75 ER . The data were fitted with an error function. Squares (thecritical momentum) and crosses (the center of the transition) are indicated on theplots.

107

the critical momentum as well as a dramatic broadening of the transition as shownin Fig. 6-8. For lattice depths lager than 2 ER , the transition became very broad andshowed complex behavior, and a quantitative anlysis of data could not be obtained.
Our measured critical momentum shows a significant deviation from the mean-field
theory calculation[40, 98, 102]. This result is in agreement with the other transport
experiment performed with 1D gas at NIST[40]. In the NIST work damped dipole oscillations of a 1D Bose gas was observed, while diople oscillations of a 3D gas showedno damping. They found that the damping coefficient grew rapidly with increasing
lattice depth even at very shallow lattice depth. This experimental result is theoretically investigated showing that quantum fluctuation dominates in 1D gas transportleading to significant deviation from the mean-field theory. Our observed broadening of the transition confirms theoretical studies which emphasize the importance ofquantum fluctuations in the 1D system. Quantum tunneling out of metastable states
which are ignored in the mean-field description can lead to a decay of the superfluid
current at very low momentum[98].

6.7

Conclusion

We have used transport studies to connect a well-known dynamical instability forweakly interacting bosons with the equilibrium superfluid to Mott insulator transition. A comparison of 3D and 1D systems confirms the applicability of a mean-field
description in three dimensions and the crucial importance of fluctuations in one dimension. The disappearance of superfluid currents at the SF-MI phase transition
precisely located the phase transition. Our results illustrate the control and precision of condensed matter physics experiments done with ultracold atoms and theirsuitability to test many-body theories.

108Chapter 7
Spectroscopy and Imaging of theMott Insulator Shell StructureThis chapter describes experiments on the Mott insulator phase performed in two
different apparatuses: the main chamber, and the science chamber. The experiment
performed in the main chamber, previously reported in Ref. [18], are briefly introduced. See the reprint included in Appendix D for detailed discussions.

7.1

Introduction

The Mott insulator(MI) is distinguished from a conventional insulator in that carrier
particles can not flow in a conventional insulator due to a fully filled energy band,
while in the Mott insulator it is the particle-particle interaction that prevents carriers
from flowing even in a partially filled conduction band. In the SF-MI transition,
this particle-particle interaction drastically modifies atom number statistics from a
coherent state (Poisson distribution) to a Fock state.
The number statistics was diagnosed using the clock shift (the mean field shift)with observation that the clock shift spectrum changed from a gaussian shaped peakin a shallow optical lattice to multiple discrete peaks in a deep optical lattice[18](Fig.72). This implies that the density distribution in the superfluid phase is continuous,
while it turns into discrete occupation numbers in the Mott insulator.
109

In addition, the clock shift diagnostic tool offers the method to selectively address
individual n = 1, 2, 3, · · · “shells” of the Mott insulator phase by utilizing the frequency of discrete peaks in the clock shift spectrum. With the clock shift scheme,
individual Mott insulator shells could be imaged with this scheme.
In this chapter, using clock shift spectroscopy we discuss high-resolution imaging of the Mott insulator shells. In addition, the temperature-dependence of thenumber statistics of the Mott insulator is presented. This could potentially serve as
thermometer for ultracold atomic system.

7.2

Clock Shift Spectroscopy

7.2.1

Clock Shift

When atoms in one hyperfine state are transferred to other hyperfine state, the resonance frequency is shifted by change in interaction energy between atoms in theinitial state and final state. Such frequency shift occurs in many applications of a
atomic clock, where the hyperfine transition is used as a frequency standard. Thisfrequency shift is called “clock shift”, and it normally limits the accuracy of atomic
clocks.
In BEC, the interaction energy is given by s-wave interaction, the change in theinteraction energy corresponds to (4π~2 a/m)n [60]. For the transition between two
hyperfine states (|1i, |2i), each state experiences a frequency shift4π~(a11 n1 + a12 n2 )m
4π~∆µ2 /~ =(a22 n2 + a12 n1 )m∆µ1 /~ =

(7.1)
(7.2)

where a11 , a12 , a22 are the s-wave scattering length of |1i − |1i, |1i − |2i, |2i − |2i,
respectively, and n1 , n2 are the densities of atoms in states |1i and |2i.
110

The total change in the transition frequency between |1iand|2i is∆ν = ∆(µ2 − µ1 )/~ =4π~[(a22 − a12 ) n2 − (a11 − a12 ) n1 ]
m

(7.3)

If we start with all of atoms in state |1i, the frequency shift reduces to∆ν = −

4π~(a11 − a12 )n1
m

(7.4)

The frequency shift ∆ν is linearly proportional to the density of atoms n1 with scattering length difference a11 −a12 . Therefore, the measurement of clock shift ∆ν reveals
the density profile n1 .

7.2.2

Clock Shift in Optical Lattice

The interaction energy in the Bose-Hubbard model for two bosonic species (two different hyperfine states |1i, |2i) is [3]U ({n1,i }, {n2,i }) =

X
X
1
1
U11
n1,i (n1,i − 1) + U22
n2,i (n2,i − 1)
2
2
i
i
X
+U12
(n1,i − 1/2)(n2,i − 1/2)

(7.5)
(7.6)

i

where Uαβ (α, β = 1 or 2) is the U matrix element between states α and β, n1,i , n2,iare the number operators at lattice site i.
Consider the situation where the system is prepared with N atoms in |1i, and aweak probe hyperfine transition pulse is applied. the frequency shift is then given as
the change in the interaction energy~∆ν = U (N − 1, 1) − U (N, 0) = −(U11 − U12 )(N − 1)

(7.7)

For instance, in the lattice system with a single atom per site (N = 1) no interactionenergy exists resulting in a zero frequency shift ∆ν = 0. The difference of matrix
111element U in Eq.(7.7)is given by
U11 − U12

4π~2 (a11 − a12 )=m
a11 − a12
=
U11
a11

Z

dr|w(r)|4

(7.8)
(7.9)

For 87 Rb atom s-wave scattering lengths are given by a11 = 100.44 a0 , a12 =98.09 a0 , a22 = 95.47 a0 .

7.2.3

Two–Photon Transition

In 87 Rb atom there are two hyperfine manifolds in the ground state, F = 1 and F = 2
separated by ∼ 6.8 GHz. |F = 1, mF = −1i and |F = 2, mF = 1i states were chosen
as initial (|1i) and final (|2i) state for our clock shift spectroscopy[18, 119]. The bias
magnetic field in the experiment was set to B0 ∼ 3.23 G where two hyperfine states
experience the same first Zeeman shift and the transition frequency becomes robust
against B-field fluctuations[60].
To drive the transition between |1, −1i and |2, 1i, two-photon (microwave + rf)
transition was used. The frequency of microwave was set to fixed value of ∼ 6, 833
MHz giving a detuning ∆ = 0.5 MHz from |2, 0i intermediate state. The frequencyof the rf photon (∼ 1.6 − 1.7 MHz) was varied to probe the frequency shift.

7.2.4

Experimental Procedure

Optical lattice is exponentially ramped up as illustrated in Fig. 7-1. A 100 ms
two-photon pulse was then applied to atoms while held in the lattice. Immediately
after the two-photon pulse, only the atoms transferred to the state |2i = |2, 1i wereselectively imaged using imaging light resonant with the F = 2 → F 0 = 3 cyclingtransition. The atoms that were not transferred and remained in initial state |1i =|1, −1i are transparent to the imaging light. During the imaging, both ODT trap andthe optical lattice was kept on for in-situ absorption imaging.
112





   
 

Figure 7-1: Experimental procedure for clock shift spectroscopy. The 3D opticallattice is exponentially ramped up to Vlatt = 35 ER in 193 ms. The exponential
ramp curve is Vlatt (t) = A {exp(t/τ ) − 1} with A = 15 ER /(exp(4) − 1) and τ =40 ms. A two-photon pulse (microwave + rf) is then applied for 100 ms for clock shift
spectroscopy.

7.3

Clock shift spectroscopy of the SF–MI phasetransition

For the density profile probe, the clock shift spectroscopy was performed on a BEC
across the superfluid-Mott insulator transition with variable lattice depth from 0ER(no lattice, superfluid phase) to 35ER (MI phase). Fig.7-2 shows our observed clock
shift spectrum.
For a trapped BEC without optical lattice, a harmonic trapping give the densitypR
distribution f (n) = (15n/n0 ) 1 − n/n0 (with normalization condition dnf (n) = 1)
varying smoothly from n0 (at trap center) to 0(trap edge). The density distribution
f (n) leads to the line shape of clock shift spectrum I(∆ν) with the Eq. (7.4)15∆νI(∆ν) =
∆ν0

r
1−

∆ν
∆ν0

(7.10)

with ∆ν0 = (−4π~/m)(a11 − a12 )n0 . The spectrum of the trapped BEC in Fig.7-2
shows a single continuous peak. As the lattice depth increases, broadening of the line
shape was observed (i.e. the spectrum for lattice depth 5ER in Fig.7-2), which is in113

Atom Number in F=2 [Arb]

350

300
250

200
150

100
50

7940

7960

7980

8000
8020
8040
RF Frequency [f-1670000 Hz]

8060

8080

Figure 7-2: Clock shift spectroscopy across the SF-MI transition. Spectrum wasmeasured for lattice depths of 0 ER (), 5 ER (4), 10 ER (◦), 25 ER (), 35 ER (•).
The spectra are vertically offset for visual clarity.

agreement with the predicted line widthph∆νi2 ∼ U (interaction) of Eq. 7.10.

The clock shift spectrum in Fig. 7-2 changed from a gaussian shaped peak in ashallow optical lattice to multiple discrete peaks in a deep optical lattice(i.e. 25, 35ER)(Fig.7-2). This implies that the density distribution in the superfluid phase is continuous, while it turns into discrete occupation numbers in the Mott insulator.
For deep lattices, the separation of the peaks in the spectrum is determined by
the difference ∆U = U11 (a11 − a12 )/a11 of the onsite interaction energy U . The onsite
interaction U11 could be obtained from the peak separation (Fig. 7-3). The widthof the discrete peaks was measured to be 10 Hz, which is mainly limited by the twophoton pulse time = 100 ms. It was observed in our previous experiment that thewidth of the discrete peaks could be narrowed down to 1 Hz level by increasing thetwo-photon interrogation time up to 1 s[13].
114














 

Figure 7-3: Probe of the onsite interaction U . A curve shows the onsite interaction
calculated using Wannier functions.(see Fig. 3-3)

7.4

Imaging the Mott Insulator Density Profile

In our first clock shift experiment [18] performed in the main chamber, the detailsof the density profile in the MI phase could not be obtained due to the low imaging
resolution of ∼ 10µm which was mainly limited by lack of optical access. Our newly
designed high NA lens improved imaging resolution to ∼ 2µm. In the rest of thischapter, I present the experiments performed in the science chamber utilizing highresolution imaging power.
Each Mott insulator shell could be selectively addressed by using discrete peakfrequencies in the clock shift spectrum (Fig.7-2). For instance, atoms in the n = 1
MI domain can be transferred to |2, 1i without transferring any other n MI domains
using the resonance frequency of the n = 1 peak.
Fig. 7-4 shows the image of the n = 1 Mott insulator domain. The density profile
of a thin slice along a dashed line in Fig. 7-4 (b) shows that the density of then = 1 MI shell drops near the center of cloud where the n = 2 MI shell structure
resides. The image integrated along x-axis in Fig. 7-4 (c) shows the “flat top” feature
indicating that the n = 1 MI domain has an empty core[111].
The reconstruction of the 3D density profile of n = 1 MI domain was performed
using the inverse Abel transform with the assumption of cylindrical symmetry[14].
Over 10 shots were averaged to improve the signal to noise ratio. Fig. 7-4 (d) shows
115

(a)

x

z

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 7-4: Inverse Abel transform of n = 1 Mott insulator shell (a) Absorption
image of n = 1 MI phase. (b) Density profile of single pixel slice along the dashedline drawn in (a). The density is lower near the center of trap. (c) Density profile
integrated along the x-axis. It shows a “flat top” feature. (d) Density n̄n=1 (0, 0, z)
obtained using the inverse Abel transform. It shows the formation of the n = 1 MI
shell structure.

116

our reconstructed density profile n̄n=1 (0, 0, z) along the long axis of the trap. Thisdensity profile directly shows the formation of the shell structure in the MI phase.
In the inverse Abel transform, the data is numerically differentiated. The noise in
the numerical derivative of a single image was too high and we had to average over 10
shots. Our processed density profile ((d) of Fig.7-4) clearly shows the empty core. The
back ground data points outside the atomic cloud have non-negligible noise and wereforced to be lower by factor of 5 in the inverse Able transform in these preliminary
results. The sharpness of the boundary between n = 1 and n = 2 MI domains could
not be resolved with high accuracy, since we have not yet systematically studied what
affects our current resolution.

7.5

Application to Thermometer for Ultracold Atomic
Systems

Through the SF-MI phase transition, the initial state of BEC is adiabatically transformed into a set of micro systems at each lattice site. Such adiabatic transitions relate
and map the physical quantities between initial and final states. Special emphasis isgiven to those quantities that are hardly accessible in one state but measurable in theother state, i.e. the entropy and temperature.
The thermodynamics of the micro systems deep in the MI phase can be describedin a following simple way by considering only particle–hole excitations [61, 48]. In asingle lattice site of a deep MI phase, eigenstates are given by Fock states |ni withenergy E(n) = U n(n − 1)/2. The partition function Z(β, µ) is then expressed as afunction of temperature β = 1/kB T and chemical potential µZ(β, µ) =X

exp [−β (E(n) − nµ)](7.11)n

The probability ρn that n atoms are occupied in a lattice site can be obtained from117nT= 0.005 U

3

T= 0.02 U
T= 0.05 U∆µ ~ 2 T

2.5
2
1.5

S max = log 2

1
0.5
0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

µ [U]

Figure 7-5: Occupation number n and entropy S at variable temperatures T =0.005U , 0.02U , 0.05U . At low T, the density profile has plateaus of n = integer withsharp boundaries. As T increases, particle-hole excitations arise near the boundaries
and the density varies smoothly. The entropy has a maximum value of Smax = kB log 2
at the center of the boundaries for T < U .
the partition function Z(β, µ)ρn (β, µ) =exp [−β (E(n) − nµ)]Z(β, µ)(7.12)The occupation number n̄ and entropy S aren̄(β, µ) =Xnρn

(7.13)

ρn log ρn(7.14)nS(β, µ) = −kB

XnThey are plotted in Fig. 7-5 for various temperature T .
At T = 0, the density profile has density plateaus with sharp boundaries. With
increasing temperature the MI domains expands due to particle-hole excitations, andthe boundary between different density plateaus becomes broad. At non-zero T (<U ), the chemical potential range of the MI domains expands by ∆µ ∼ 2T . Inside
the boundaries where the density smoothly varies i.e. from 1 to 2, the atom number
118

(a)

(b)

n=2

n=1

(d)

(c)

Figure 7-6: Expansion of the MI domains with increasing trap depth and temperature.
The integrated density profile n(z) of n = 1 (blue) and n = 2 (green) MI domains
are shown for different trap depths Vtrap . The trap depths are denoted with respect
to the reference trap used in (a): Vtrap = 0 kHz in (a), 7 kHz in (b), 14 kHz in (c), 30
kHz in (d). The boundary between density plateaus (shaded area) becomes broader
with increasing trap depth Vtrap .
fluctuates between 1 and 2 leading to the increase of entropy S. As long as thetemperature is lower than the interaction energy (T < U ), the entropy arises mainly
from single particle-hole excitations, and the maximum entropy is given by Smax =kB log 2 at the center of boundaries (dashed line in Fig. 7-5).
To observe the temperature dependence of the MI domain size, the temperatureof the system was adjusted by varying the trap depth. For all the trap depths usedin our measurement, the condensate fraction was found to be close to 1. In general,
it is difficult to precisely determine the condensate fraction near 100 %.1 Therefore,
our measure for temperatrue is the final trap depth Vtrap , and not the condensate
fractions.
The integrated density profiles (n(z) =1

RR

dxdy n(x, y, z)) of n = 1 and n = 2This is one of the reasons for employing the MI phase as a thermometer, since precise measurement of thermodynamical quantities of a BEC is a difficult task for small T /Tc

119








]mm[ z






















Figure 7-7: The boundary position for the n = 1 and n = 2 MI domains at variabletemperature. A blue (green) curve represents the boundary position of n = 1 (n =2, respectively) MI domain calculated for our trap geometry. For comparison, ourmeasurement of boundary position (blue squares: n = 1, green circles: n = 2) arealso displayed with n = 1 measurement fitted on the predicted curve: Vtrap = (a) 0
kHz, (b) 7 kHz, (c) 14 kHz, (d) 30 kHz.
MI domains are shown in Fig. 7-6 for variable trap depths Vtrap . The “flat top” areas
are visible in n = 1 density profile. The boundary of the MI domains was determined
to be the edges of the “flat top” area for n = 1, and the outer edges for n = 2 (Fig.
7-6).
We observed that the Mott domains expanded with increasing trap depth Vtrap(Fig. 7-6). The n = 1 MI domain (blue dashed line in Fig.7-6) expanded toward
the center of trap, and the n = 2 MI domain (green dashed line in Fig.7-6) spreaded
outwards from the center. An overlap region of the n = 1 and n = 2 MI domains wasobserved to become broader with increasing trap depth Vtrap (shaded area in Fig. 7-6(b), (c), (d)).
The curves in Fig. 7-7 shows predicted positions of the MI domain’s boundary
calculated for our trap geometry. For comparison, our measured boundary positions
are also displayed with n = 1 measurements fitted on the calculated curve.
Expansion of the overlap area of the n = 1 and n = 2 domains (shaded areain (b)-(d) of Fig.7-6) implies that the step-like density profile became smoother andcontinuous. One may expect that the discrete peak structure in the clock shift spectrum becomes continuous due to the change of the density profile to a smooth curve.
120


















   







Figure 7-8: Entropy estimated in the MI phase. Entropy per particle is estimated inunits of kB log 2.
However, we observed no significant change in the peak structure of the clock shift
spectrum; the position and heights of n = 1 and n = 2 peaks remained the same.
This implies that the state in the overlap area is an incoherent mixture (thermal mixture) of Fock states |1i, |2i: each Fock state |ni contributes to each peak with theprobability ρn .
Although the smooth density profile of the MI phase at finite temperature issimilar to that of the superfluid profile, they are fundamentally different. In the MI
case, the state is an incoherent mixture of Fock states |ni with associated probabilitiesρn = exp[−β(E(n)−nµ)]/Z(β, µ). The number is determined by an ensemble average,Pn̄ = n ρn n with non-zero entropy. In contrast, the superfluid phase is describedPby a coherent superposition (pure state) of Fock states n cn |ni providing hn̂i =P2
n |cn | n.
The entropy reaches a maximum Smax = kB log 2 near the boundary of the MI
domains. The entropy of the system can be estimated by assuming that the entropy isequal to Smax = kB log 2 in the overlap zone and 0 in the pure MI phase domains(nonoverlap zone). The estimated entropy is displayed in Fig. 7-8
Entropy has not been experimentally studied in trapped BEC system2 . Suchmeasurements are challenging particularly for low temperature (small T /Tc ). The
entropy S of a trapped BEC, for low temperature T < µ , has been predicted in
2Specific heat was investigated experimentally[38]

121


























Figure 7-9: Prediction of entropy per particle S/N of a trapped BEC.[50]theoretical work by Giorgini et al. [50]7Aζ(3)Si (T, N ) = √5 2
with σ =p15as Nσ1/5 

kB T
~ω0

5/2
(7.15)~/mω0 , trap frequency ω0 , A = 10.6. The entropy S is plotted in Fig. 7-

9. From this curve, the initial temperatures Ti of experimental sets (a)-(d) in Fig.7-6
can be estimated by setting Si = Sf : Ti /Tc = (a) ∼ 0.05, (b) ∼ 0.2, (c) ∼ 0.25 (d)∼ 0.35.

7.6

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have imaged individual Mott insulating phases. Detailed density
profiles could be obtained with our new high-resolution imaging system. They showed
the formation of the MI shell structure. A expansion of the MI domains was observedwith increasing trap depth Vtrap , which determines the initial temperature of the system. The entropy associated with the expansion of the MI domains was estimated.
This method should provide an effective way to measure the thermodynamical quantities of ultracold atomic systems.

122Chapter 8
Demonstration of Quantum Zeno
Effect using a BEC
This chapter briefly introduces the experimental demonstration of Quantum Zeno Effect with a BEC. This experiment was previously reported in Ref. [119]. See thereprint included in Appendix F for detailed discussions.

This is the only experiment described in this thesis in which an optical lattice was
not used. Even though the microwave spectroscopy setup was initially designed for
optical lattice experiments, microwave transition was first utilized in this experiment
to drive Rabi oscillation between two hyperfine states. Two-photon(rf+microwave)
transition could be tested and characterized through this experiment before applied
to the optical lattice experiments. This experiment is shortly described and I referto the reprint attached in Appendix F for detailed discussions.

8.1

Quantum Zeno Effect with Pulsed Measurement or Continuous Measurement

The quantum Zeno effect(QZE) is the suppression of transition between quantum
states by frequent measurements. Let us consider a two-level system where two levels
123Lifetime τ (ms)

10000

1000

100

10
0.3

1
3
10
Measurement Rate 1/δt (ms -1)

30

Figure 8-1: Pulsed quantum Zeno effect. Boxes [traingles] are the data points measured with a Rabi frequency ωR /2π = 54.6(0.5) [24.7(0.1), repectively] Hz. The
lifetime τEP was measured with variable time interval δt. Black lines indicate thepredicted QZE lifetime τEP = 4/(ωR2 δt)|1i, |2i are coherently driven at a Rabi frequency ωR .

8.1.1

Pulsed Measurement

Measurements of the state of the system project the system into one of the two states|1i, |2i. If the system is initially in |1i and a measurement is made after short timeδt( 1/ωR ), the probability for the system to be in |1i is ≈ 1 − (ωR δt/2)2 . For N
successive measurements the probability for the system to be in |1i is given by2
P (N ) = 1 − (ωR δt/2)N ≈ exp[−N (ωR δt/2)2 ] = exp[−(ωR2 δt/4)T ](8.1)

with the total free evolution time T = N δt. The initial state |1i decays with aneffective decay rate 1/τEP instead of normal Rabi oscillation. The effective decayrate 1/τEP is
1/τEP = ωR2 δt/4

(8.2)

The characteristic time τEP for the pulsed QZE is much longer than the char124

Saturation s 0
4.8x10 - 3
9.6x10 - 3

014.4x10 - 3

Lifetime τEC ms

Lifetime τ EC (ms)

1000

750

500

200

100

0

0

1
2
Optical Power (µW)

3

250

0
0

4
8
Optical Power (µW)

12Figure 8-2: Continuous quantum Zeno effect. Rate of continuous measurement γ islinearly proportional to measurement laser beam power. Lifetime τEC increases withincreasing measurement rate γ. Gray bands indicates range of expected lifetimes.
acteristic time 1/ωR of normal Rabi-type oscillation. This shows the suppression oftransition.
To experimentally demonstrate QZE, a BEC prepared with an initial hyperfine
state |1i = |1, −1i was driven to state |2i = |2, 1i with the two-photon (rf+microwave)
transition. Measurements were performed with a laser beam resonant with the F =2 → F 0 = 3 D2 transition. The pulsed QZE was observed with a train of repeatedpulses of the measurement laser. Fig. 8-1 shows that the lifetime τEP increases
dramatically with a measurement rate 1/δt.

8.1.2

Continuous Measurement

For a continuous measurement, atoms are continuously illuminated with a weak measurement laser beam. If atoms are in state |2i, they emit a photon at a rate γ, andthose atoms are removed from the system by the photon recoil kick. The populationof state |1i decays with a rate 1/τEC which is given by the optical Bloch equation as[108]
1/τEC = ωR2 /γ
125

(8.3)

For comparison, let us consider a pseudo-continuous measurement scheme where ameasurement is performed by a series of randomly distributed pulses. The populationin state |1i is after N pulse measurementωR2 hδt2 i
2
2
P (N ) = h1 − (ωR δt/2) i ≈ exp −N ωR hδt i/4 = exp −
T
4hδti
2 N

with T = N hδti. If the probability for measurement pulse during a time interval δtis γδt, hδti = 1/γ and hδti2 = 2/γ 2 . The effective decay rate is
1/τEP,random = ωR2 /2γ(8.4)

Although the continuous measurement beam leads to the same emission rate γ ofstate |2i as the random pulse measurement case, the decay rates 1/τEC , 1/τEP,random
are different by a factor of 2. While in the random pulse case the wave function
evolves without interference of measurement pulses between measurement pulses, inthe continuous QZE case the evolution of wave function is continuously intervened by
the presence of a measurement. Fig.8-2 shows our measurement of continuous QZE.
By matching the observed lifetimes for the pulsed and continuous QZE, we findthat each measurement type has the same QZE when γδt = 3.60(0.43), which is inagreement with the predicted value of 4. This rules out the pseudo-continuous QZEthat gives γδt = 2 instead of 4.

126

Chapter 9
Conclusion
Ultracold atoms in optical lattice have proved to be a powerful tool in understanding
and simulating conventional condensed matter physics. The superfluid-Mott insulatortransition realized in ultracold atomic system illustrates the capability of ultracold
atomic system in optical lattice as a quantum simulator for condensed matter physics(especially, Hubbard Model). In particular, quantum magnetism is now actively
pursued by many groups using ultracold atoms in optical lattices. In the current
stage, some further steps seem to be required for the realization of magnetic ordering in optical lattice. First, the controllability of individual spin states of atoms isneeded such as spin-dependent potentials to manipulate the effective spin-spin interaction. Second, the temperature for the magnetic ordering realization must bevery low, i.e. compared to Néel temperature. To measure such low temperatures a
new thermometer is required. Possibly, additional cooling methods are required toreach anti-ferromagnetic ordering. As a first step toward this goal, in the new sciencechamber the MI transition was achieved and the spatial density profile of the MI shellstructure could be observed with a new high resolution imaging system. The next
steps are the implementation of a spin-dependent optical lattice and a new schemeof thermometry. Hopefully, this leads to the exploration of a new forms of magnetic
matter with new understandings of and insights into nature. I am confident that the
Rb lab will continue to have many exciting moments, and I hope there will be manysuccesses.
127

In the near future, as further steps spin-dependent optical lattice will be implemented with a new scheme of thermometry. It would bring a new form of magnetic
matter with new understandings and insights on nature. I believe the Rb lab will go
forward to this goal with many exciting moments, and I hope there would be manysuccesses.

128

Appendix A
The Configuration of a High
Resolution Imaging Lens
This appendix contains the design of our high resolution imaging lens.

#4

#3

#2

#1

129

This imaging optics were designed, assembled and tested by postdoc David Weld.
The high resolution imaging lens has 4 spherical lenses. The information on theindividual lenses and spacers are listed.
• Lens #1: Meniscus shape. (closest to the imaging target)
R1 = 119.3 mm
R2 = 47.9 mm• Spacer #1:
Length = 0.68000• Lens #2: Plano-convex shape
R3= ∞R4=77.52 mm• Spacer #2:
Length = 0.63700• Symmetric bi-convex shape
R5=R6=205.67 mm• Spacer #3:
Length=0.76700• Lens #4: Plano-concave shape
R7=77.52 mm
R8=∞(All spacers are 200 diameter aluminum tubes with 1/1600 wall) thickness.
The configuration of the high resolution imaging lens was optimized by a ray
tracing program. A closeup view of traces of imaging rays in the high resolution lensis shown below.
130

131

132

Appendix B
Designs for Experimental
Apparatus
This appendix contains drawings for the science chamber and layout for the 780 nm
diode laser optics.

133

Top view of the science chamber

1.25” OD

1.25” OD
4.0” OD pipe

3.86”

2.5”
2.0” radius
3.75”
3.86”
3.75”
1.25” OD
1.5” OD

134

Side view of the science chamber

1.75”
2.5”
3.75”
1.75”

4.0”

135

F’=3
2
1
0
-420 Mhz-690 Mhz

F =2
1

slowing

Rb

87

F=1 probe
F=2 probe

267MHz
157MHz
72MHz

D
2

nm

6.8 GHz0
AOM analog+96/93.5MHz

300mm

-420

-267

Zeeman slower:slowing & repumping

200mm

AOM
+83.5MHz

AOMalways on-80MHz-187
AOMalways on-250MHz

-80

400mm
AOM
+80MHzAOMalways on+80MHz

DL100

RepumpMasterAOMalways on-340MHz

PD2b

PD2a

100mm
35mm

MOT: repumping,
MT: depumping
300mm

repumpslave
SanyoDL7140-201

-80

300mm

-420

AOMalways on
analog +80MHz

cyclingslave
Sanyo
DL7140-201

0

250mm

SC: repumping

Diode Laser Layout for Rb D2 line
F=2 Probe

MOT:
trapping
100mm -50mm

PD4

TA-100Rb cell

PD1aPD1btaperedTA
amplifiermasteroscillator

Magnetic shield-20

Fabry-Perot

trapping
repumpdepumpAOMalways on+93.5MHzrepumpMay 2008

-187

-187

-687

-420

0

Magnetic shield

Rb cellAppendix C
Phase Diagram for a Bose-Einstein
Condensate moving in an Optical
LatticeThis appendix contains a reprint of Ref. [88]: Jongchul Mun, Patrick Medley,
Gretchen K. Campbell, Luis G. Marcassa, David E. Pritchard, and Wolfgang
Ketterle, Phase Diagram for a Bose-Einstein Condensate moving in an Optical
Lattice, Physical Review Letters 99, 150604 (2007).

137PRL 99, 150604 (2007)

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

week ending
12 OCTOBER 2007

Phase Diagram for a Bose-Einstein Condensate Moving in an Optical Lattice
Jongchul Mun, Patrick Medley, Gretchen K. Campbell,* Luis G. Marcassa,† David E. Pritchard, and Wolfgang Ketterle
MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms, Research Laboratory of Electronics, and Department of Physics, MIT,
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA(Received 26 June 2007; published 12 October 2007)
The stability of superﬂuid currents in a system of ultracold bosons was studied using a moving opticallattice. Superﬂuid currents in a very weak lattice become unstable when their momentum exceeds 0.5
recoil momentum. Superﬂuidity vanishes already for zero momentum as the lattice deep reaches the Mott
insulator (MI) phase transition. We study the phase diagram for the disappearance of superﬂuidity as afunction of momentum and lattice depth between these two limits. Our phase boundary extrapolates to thecritical lattice depth for the superﬂuid-to-MI transition with 2% precision. When a one-dimensional gas
was loaded into a moving optical lattice a sudden broadening of the transition between stable and unstablephases was observed.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.150604

PACS numbers: 05.60.Gg, 03.75.Kk, 03.75.Lm, 05.30.Jp

The realization of condensed matter systems using ultracold atoms brings the precision and control of atomic
physics to the study of many-body physics. Many studies
have focused on Mott insulator physics, an importantparadigm for the suppression of transport by particle correlations. Previous studies of the superﬂuid (SF)-to-Mott
insulator (MI) transition in optical lattices with ultracoldbosons [1–8] addressed the quenching of superﬂuidity
below a critical lattice depth. Here we extend these studies
into a second dimension by studying stability of superﬂuid
current as a function of momentum and lattice depth assuggested in Ref. [9]. These transport measurements show
the stability of superﬂuid at ﬁnite current, which is innonequilibrium.
Transport measurements extend previous work on stationary systems in two regards. First, superﬂuidity near theMI transition has only been indirectly inferred from coherence measurements, whereas in this work, we characterize
the superﬂuid regime by observing a critical current forsuperﬂuid ﬂow through the onset of dissipation. Second,previous studies [1–8] were not able to precisely locate thephase transition, since the observed excitation spectrum
and atomic interference pattern did not abruptly change[3,5,6], partially due to the inhomogeneous density. In
contrast, the sudden onset of dissipation provides a clear
distinction between the two quantum phases. In the SF
phase, current ﬂows without dissipation if the momentum
does not exceed a critical momentum, while in the MIphase the critical momentum vanishes and transport isdissipative.
Bosonic atoms in an optical lattice are often describedby the Bose-Hubbard Model where the tunneling between
nearest neighbor lattice sites is characterized by the hopping matrix element J and the repulsive interactions by theon-site matrix element U [1,10 –12]. The dimensionlessinteraction energy u  U=J determines the quantum phaseof the system. For u > uc , the system is in the MI phase, foru < uc , the SF phase. uc increases with the number ofatoms N per site.
0031-9007=07=99(15)=150604(4)For weak interactions (u ! 0), the system approaches
single-particle physics in a periodic potential well described by Bloch states and band structure. The critical
momentum for a stable current-carrying state is 0.5 pr(pr  h= is the recoil momentum of an atom, where is the wavelength of the optical lattice light) [13]. At thecritical momentum, it becomes possible for two atoms inthe same initial Bloch state to scatter into two other states
and conserve energy and quasimomentum [14,15]. Instabilities in a 1D optical lattice were studied theoreticallyusing a linear stability analysis of the Gross-Pitaevskii
equation [13,16], and experimentally [14,17,18]. The theoretical studies predicted that for increasing lattice depth orincreasing atomic interactions the stability of superﬂuid
ﬂow should increase [13,16]: the dynamic instability
would stay near 0.5 pr , whereas the Landau critical velocity and therefore the energetic instability would shift tolarger momenta (For more discussions on dynamic and energetic instability, see Refs. [19,20]). However, theseanalyses neglect the growing importance of quantum correlations for larger lattice depth which leads to the SF-MI
phase transition, where the critical momentum for a superﬂuid current vanishes. In this Letter, we study the decreaseof the critical momentum from its value for the weaklyinteracting regime towards zero at the MI transition(Fig. 1).
Most studies of the SF-MI phase transition monitor thecoherence in the superﬂuid phase through an interference
pattern observed in the ballistic expansion resulting from asudden turn-off of the conﬁning potential and lattice.
Previous observations of the phase transition found theexperimental transition point to lie in the range between
10 and 13 ER (with the recoil energy deﬁned as ER 
p2r =2m, where m is the atomic mass) [3]. This uncertainty
is related to the inhomogeneous density proﬁle of trapped
atoms and to the fact that the visibility of the interference
extends beyond the transition point due to short-range
coherence in the MI phase [6]. It has been suggested thatobserved kinks in the visibility are linked to the formation

150604-1© 2007 The American Physical Society

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Critical Momentum p c [pr ]PRL 99, 150604 (2007)
0.5

dissipative flow

0.4

superfluid flow

0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

Interaction u/uc
Strength

FIG. 1. Phase diagram showing the stability of superﬂuid ﬂow
in an optical lattice and the experimental procedure. The graycurve shows the predicted boundary between superﬂuid ﬂow anddissipative ﬂow phases for a three-dimensional gas with acommensurate ﬁlling of N  1 atom per site [9]. The solid(dashed) arrows illustrate the experimental trajectory used forsmall (large) lattice depths (see text for details).

of the MI shells with occupation numbers N  2 and 3 [6].
Several authors have suggested other features in the momentum distribution beyond coherent interference peaks asa more distinct signature of the phase transition [21,22].
Here we show that the disappearance of the critical momentum for superﬂuid ﬂow provides such a signature andallows the determination of the transition point with highprecision.
Our measurement was not limited by the inhomogeneous density proﬁle. For our range of lattice depths, low
critical momenta and the onset of dissipation occur only
near the formation of MI shells with integer occupation
numbers N [9]. The onset of dissipation related to the N 
1 domains occurs at smaller momentum than for other N
domains. For instance, with increasing momentum p theN  1 domain becomes unstable ﬁrst, and this triggers
dissipation over the whole atomic cloud [9]. Therefore,
the breakdown of superﬂuid ﬂow in the system was determined by the formation of the N  1 domain and was not
smeared out by the inhomogeneous density. Our criterion,
the sudden onset of dissipation, depended on the formationof an insulating shell surrounded by a superﬂuid region,
which occurs only in the inhomogeneous case.
In our experimental setup, a Bose-Einstein condensate(BEC) of 87 Rb atoms in the 5S1=2 j1; 1i state was prepared and trapped in a combination of an Ioffe-Pritchardmagnetic trap and an optical dipole trap. The number ofatoms in the BEC was typically 2  105 . The magnetic trap
frequencies were !x;y  40 Hz radially and !z  4:6 Hz
axially. The laser beam for the optical dipole trap was oriented along the x axis. This laser beam was retroreﬂected
and the polarization of the retroreﬂected beam was rotatedin order to minimize interference between the two beams.
Along the vertical direction (y axis) a lattice was formed bya retroreﬂected laser beam. For the z axis, a moving lattice

week ending
12 OCTOBER 2007

was created by introducing a small frequency detuning fbetween the two counterpropagating laser beams using
acousto-optical modulators driven by phase-locked frequency generators. The 3D optical lattice was ramped up
exponentially in 160 ms. All lattice beams were derived
from the same laser operating at   1064 nm and had an
1=e2 waist of 100–200 m. The lattice depth was calibrated with 1% accuracy by applying a 12:5 s latticelaser pulse to a BEC and comparing the observed
Kapitza-Dirac diffraction pattern of a BEC to theory.
For transport measurements, we moved an optical lattice[17,23] which provides more ﬂexibility to change themomentum than exciting a dipole oscillation by displacement of the BEC [24,25]. A moving optical lattice withvelocity v  f=2 was created along the long axis of the
BEC by introducing a small frequency detuning f between two counterpropagating lattice beams. If the velocityvt changes slowly enough not to induce interband excitations, the initial Bloch state jp  0i of the condensate
in the optical lattice adiabatically evolves into the currentcarrying state jpt  mvti where p is the quasimomentum. For increasing lattice depth, the effective mass of
atoms m  @2 Ep=@p2 1 increases, and the group velocity vg  m=m vt decreases. As a consequence,
atoms prepared in a moving lattice with quasimomentump  mv travel in the frame of the moving lattice with vg
and in the lab frame with velocity v  v vg  1 
m=m v, which approaches v in a deep lattice.
Consequently, we observed that in a deep moving lattice
atoms were dragged along to the edge of the trapping
region limiting the experimental time scale to probe fordissipation. This became an issue for larger values of p andwas addressed by ﬁrst ramping up the lattice with p  0
and then alternating the velocity of the moving lattice, thus
performing a low-frequency ac transport measurement instead of dc.
We have used two sets of experimental procedures(Fig. 1), and our results were consistent for both. Closeto the SF-MI phase transition, the lattice was increased to
Vlatt with a ﬁxed (and small) value of momentum p (dashedarrows in Fig. 1). After a variable hold time thold at Vlatt thelattice was ramped down to zero, and the magnetic trap
switched off. After 33 ms of ballistic expansion, the atoms
were imaged and the condensate fraction was determined
as a function of momentum by using a bimodal ﬁtting
function. For smaller lattice depths, the lattice was ramped
up with p  0 (Fig. 1). Then a sinusoidal momentum
modulation of the moving lattice with amplitude pM wasapplied by modulating the frequency detuning f between
the counterpropagating lattice beams. The 10 ms period of
this momentum modulation was slow enough to meet the
adiabaticity condition, but fast enough to limit the displacement of the atomic cloud to less than a few m.
Both the trapping potential and the optical lattice werethen turned off suddenly. After 33 ms of ballistic expansion, the condensate fraction of the center peak of the150604-2

superﬂuid interference pattern was recorded as a functionof the momentum modulation amplitude pM . Several
cycles (typically, three to ﬁve) of the momentum modulation were applied to obtain a high contrast between thestable and dissipative regimes [Fig. 2(a)].
Figure 2(a) shows how the transition between superﬂuid
and dissipative currents became sharper with increasing
number of cycles of the momentum modulation. The critical momentum was determined from a log-log plot of thecondensate fraction as a function of momentum p[Fig. 2(c)]. The intersection between two linear ﬁt functions was taken as the critical momentum. Our result was
found to be independent of the time period and number ofcycles of the momentum modulation at a few percent level.
In the MI phase, stable superﬂuid ﬂow is not possible
and the critical momentum should vanish. However, using
the procedure described above, we measured a small critical momentum of 0.02 pr for lattice depths Vlatt  14, 15,
16 ER . Up to this momentum, the SF-MI phase transition
remained reversible. We interpret the nonzero critical momentum as a ﬁnite-size effect. For our cloud size of

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2
0.1

(c)

0.2

0.3

0 pr

0.12 p r

0.31 p r

0.7

0.5

0.6

0.3
0.1

0.32 p r

0.43 p r

0.7

C. F.

C. F.

0.4

Momentum [pr ]0.5

u /u c =0.22
0.1

0.2 0.3 0.5

p [ pr ]u /u c =0.53
0.3

0.1

0.2 0.3

p [ pr ]0.5

FIG. 2 (color online). Determination of the critical momentumof superﬂuid ﬂow. Shown is the condensate fraction as a functionof a momentum p. (a) Condensate fraction with u=uc  0:61 fora variable number of cycles of the momentum modulation (onecycle:  and blue line, two cycles: 䊏 and purple line, threecycles: 䉱 and red line). A dashed vertical line indicates thecritical momentum where instability begins to occur. The twoand three-cycle data are offset vertically for clarity. These data
were ﬁtted with an error function to guide the eye. (b) Images ofinterference patterns released from an optical lattice at u=uc 
0:61 moving with variable momentum. Instability occurred
between p  0:31pr and 0:32pr . Some of the triangular data
points in (a) were obtained from these images. (c) Condensate
fraction on a log-log scale for two different interaction strengths.

0.5

dissipative
flow

0.4

0.3

pc

0

60 m, the corresponding Heisenberg momentum uncertainty of 0.018 pr agrees with our measured critical momentum. In cold atom experiments, some sloshing motionof the cloud in the trapping potential is unavoidable. The
momentum uncertainty determined above indicates how
much sloshing motion can be tolerated without affecting
the observed phase transition.
The critical lattice depth for the SF-MI phase transition
can be determined as the point where the critical momentum vanishes. Using the predicted functional form [9] ofp
the approach towards zero, pc / 1  u=uc , as a ﬁt function for the data points close to the SF-MI phase transition(the data points shown in the inset of Fig. 3) we determinedthe critical value uc  34:2 (2:0) corresponding to alattice depth of 13:50:2 ER . Our result agrees with themean-ﬁeld theory prediction uc  5:8  6  34:8 for N 
1 SF-MI phase transition [1] and deviates by 2  from thepredictions of uc  29:342 of quantum Monte Carlo(QMC) simulation [26,27], which includes corrections
beyond the mean-ﬁeld theory. This demonstrates that our
method has the precision to identify non-mean-ﬁeld corrections. However, to turn precision into accuracy, experiments or QMC simulations [21,26,27] have to address
corrections due to ﬁnite size, ﬁnite temperature, and ﬁnite
time to probe the onset of the instability [27]. In our experiment, these corrections seemed to be small, but have notbeen characterized at the level of 1% in lattice depth.
The mean-ﬁeld prediction for stable superﬂuid ﬂow in
1D is similar to that for the 3D system [9]. However, it iswell known that ﬂuctuations play a much more importantrole in 1D. For studying a 1D system, we prepared an arrayof one-dimensional gas tubes by ramping two pairs of
optical lattice beams up to lattice depths of Vx  Vy 
30 ER suppressing hopping between the tubes. After a holdtime of 10 ms, a moving optical lattice was ramped up
along the z axis. As in our 3D experiment, a momentum
modulation was applied, after which the moving opticallattice was ramped down to zero, followed by the other two
optical lattices. The condensate fraction was determined
after 33 ms of ballistic expansion as a function of the
Critical Momentum pc [p r]Condensate Fraction

(a)

(b)

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12 OCTOBER 2007

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERSPRL 99, 150604 (2007)

0.2
0.1

0.3
0.2

superfluid
flow

0.0
0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

u / uc

0.1
0
0

0.25

0.50

0.75

1.0

1.25

1.50

1.75

2.0

Interaction Strength u / uc

FIG. 3 (color online). Critical momentum for a condensate in a
3D lattice. The solid line shows the theoretical prediction for thesuperﬂuid region. The horizontal solid line is a ﬁt to the data
points in the MI phase. (Inset) Fit of critical momenta near the
SF-MI phase transition.

150604-3

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERSPRL 99, 150604 (2007)(b)0.25 ER

0.75

C. F.

0.5
0.4

0

0.2

0.2

0.4

p [pr ]

0.75

superfluid
flow

0.1

0.50

0.25

dissipative
flow

0.3

C. F.

Critical Momentum p c [pr ]

(a)

0.6

0.75 ER

0.50
0.25

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Interaction Strength u/u c

1

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

p [pr ]

FIG. 4 (color online). Critical momentum for a 1D gas in an
optical lattice. (a) The gray line indicates the mean-ﬁeld theory
prediction. The interaction strengths are normalized by themean-ﬁeld prediction for uc  5:8  2 [1,4]. Squares (crosses)
represent the measured critical momentum (the center of thetransition). Measurements were taken at lattice depths of 0.25,
0.50, 0.75, 1.0, 2.0 ER . The lines between crosses and squares
indicate the width of the transition region. (b) Condensate fraction measured at 0.25 ER and 0.75 ER . The data were ﬁtted withan error function. Squares (the critical momentum) and crosses(the center of the transition) are indicated on the plots.

momentum modulation amplitude. The critical momentum, where the onset of dissipation begins, was identiﬁed
from a log-log plot as in the 3D case. Since the transitions
became very broad, we characterized them by an error
function ﬁt, with the center of the ﬁtted error function
taken as the center of the transition (Fig. 4).
In the 1D system, at a very shallow lattice depth of 0.25
ER (corresponding to u=uc  0:08) a sharp transition wasobserved, and the measured critical momentum agreed
very well with the prediction [9,28] of a critical momentumof 0.39 pr . However, a slight increase of the interaction
strength (to u=uc  0:09 at a lattice depth of 0.5 ER ) led toa signiﬁcant decrease of the critical momentum as well as a
dramatic broadening of the transition as shown in Fig. 4.
For lattice depths larger than 2 ER , the transition becamevery broad and showed complex behavior, and we could
not obtain quantitative ﬁts. Our results show a signiﬁcantdeviation from the mean-ﬁeld theory predictions and are inagreement with previous works [25,29,30].
The observed broadening of the transition conﬁrms
theoretical studies which emphasize the importance ofquantum ﬂuctuations in the 1D system. Quantum tunnelingout of metastable states which are ignored in the mean-ﬁeld
description can lead to a decay of the superﬂuid current atvery low momenta [28]. In addition to quantum ﬂuctuations, thermal ﬂuctuations provide a mechanism for current
decay [28]. In our experiment, we used a ‘‘pure’’ BEC
without a discernible thermal component. The close agreement with T  0 predictions indicates that thermal ﬂuctuations were not dominant.
In conclusion, we have used transport studies to connect
a well-known dynamical instability for weakly interacting
bosons with the equilibrium superﬂuid to Mott insulatortransition. A comparison of 3D and 1D systems conﬁrms

week ending
12 OCTOBER 2007

the applicability of a mean-ﬁeld description in three dimensions and the crucial importance of ﬂuctuations in one
dimension. The disappearance of superﬂuid currents at the
SF-MI phase transition precisely located the phase transition. Our results illustrate the control and precision ofcondensed matter physics experiments done with ultracold
atoms and their suitability to test many-body theories.
This work was funded by NSF through the grant for
CUA. L. G. M. acknowledges support from Coordenacaode Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior. We
thank E. Demler and A. Polkovnikov for insightful discussions, and David Weld for a critical reading of themanuscript.

*Present address: JILA, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
†
Permanent address: Instituto de Fisica de São Carlos,
University of São Paulo, São Carlos, 13560-970, SP,
Brazil.
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[5] S. Fölling et al., Nature (London) 434, 481 (2005).
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Svistunov, Phys. Rev. B 75, 134302 (2007).
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070401 (2004).
[30] J. Ruostekoski and L. Isella, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 110403(2005).

150604-4

142

Appendix D
Imaging the Mott Insulator Shells
by Using Atomic Clock Shifts
This appendix contains a reprint of Ref. [18]: Gretchen K. Campbell, Jongchul
Mun, Micah Boyd, Patrick Medley, Aaron E. Leanhardt, Luis G. Marcassa, David
E. Pritchard, and Wolfgang Ketterle Imaging the Mott Insulator Shells by Using
Atomic Clock Shifts, Sience 313, 649 (2006).

14329. L. Fu, H. Pelicano, J. Liu, P. Huang, C.-C. Lee, Cell 111, 41(2002).
30. K. Unsal-Kacmaz, T. E. Mullen, W. K. Kaufmann, A. Sancar,
Mol. Cell. Biol. 25, 3109 (2005).
31. T. Matsuo et al., Science 302, 255 (2003).
32. N. A. Krucher, L. Meije, M. H. Roberts, Cell. Mol.
Neurobiol. 17, 495 (1997).
33. L. E. Anderson, J. E. Morris, L. B. Sasser, R. G. Stevens,
Cancer Lett. 148, 121 (2000).
34. J. Hansen, Epidemiology 12, 74 (2001).
35. W. J. Hrushesky, J. Control. Release 74, 27 (2001).

36. G. A. Bjarnason, R. Jordan, Prog. Cell Cycle Res. 4, 193(2000).
37. www.fgsc.net/fgn47/lgi.htm.
38. S. Gery, N. Komatsu, L. Baldjyan, A. Yu, D. Koo, H. P.
Koeffler, Mol. Cell 22, 375 (2006).
39. Supported by grants from the NIH (MH44651 to J.C.D.
and J.J.L. and R37GM34985 to J.C.D.), NSF (MCB0084509 to J.J.L.), and the Norris Cotton Cancer Centercore grant to Dartmouth Medical School. We thankR. Rothstein for yeast strain W2105-7b, S. Elledge forplasmid pMH267, and both for helpful discussions.

Supporting Online Materialwww.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/1121716/DC1
Materials and Methods
Figs. S1 and S2References

24 October 2005; accepted 11 May 2006
Published online 29 June 2006;
10.1126/science.1121716
Include this information when citing this paper.

REPORTS
Imaging the Mott Insulator Shells
by Using Atomic Clock Shifts
Gretchen K. Campbell,1* Jongchul Mun,1 Micah Boyd,1 Patrick Medley,1Aaron E. Leanhardt,2 Luis G. Marcassa,1† David E. Pritchard,1 Wolfgang Ketterle1
Microwave spectroscopy was used to probe the superfluid–Mott insulator transition of a Bose-Einsteincondensate in a three-dimensional optical lattice. By using density-dependent transition frequency
shifts, we were able to spectroscopically distinguish sites with different occupation numbers and todirectly image sites with occupation numbers from one to five, revealing the shell structure of the Mott
insulator phase. We used this spectroscopy to determine the onsite interaction and lifetime forindividual shells.
he Mott insulator (MI) transition is aparadigm of condensed matter physics,
describing how electron correlations canlead to insulating behavior even for partially filled
conduction bands. However, this behavior
requires a commensurable ratio between electronsand sites. If this condition for the density is notexactly fulfilled, the system will be conductive.
For neutral bosonic particles, the equivalent
phenomenon is the transition from a superfluid
to an insulator for commensurable densities. In
inhomogeneous systems, as in atom traps, thecondition of commensurability no longer applies: For sufficiently strong interparticle interactions, it is predicted that the system should
separate into MI shells with different occupation number, separated by thin superfluidlayers (1–3).
The recent observation of the superfluidto-MI transition with ultracold atoms (4) has
stimulated a large number of theoretical and experimental studies E(5) and references therein^.
Atomic systems allow for a full range of controlof the experimental parameters, including tunability of the interactions and defect-free preparation, making them attractive systems forstudying condensed matter phenomena. The MI

T

1
MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms, Research Laboratory of Electronics, Department of Physics, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. 2JILA,
Boulder, CO 80309, USA.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:gcampbel@mit.edu†Permanent address: Instituto de Fisica de São Carlos,
University of São Paulo, São Paulo 13560-970, Brazil.

phase in ultracold atoms has been characterized
by studies of coherence, excitation spectrum,
noise correlations (4, 6, 7), and molecule
formation (8). Recently, by using spin-changing
collisions, Gerbier et al. selectively addressed
lattice sites with two atoms and observed the
suppression of number fluctuations (9).
In this study, we combined atoms in the MIphase with the high-resolution spectroscopy used
for atomic clocks and used density-dependenttransition frequency shifts to spectroscopicallyresolve the layered structure of the Mott shells
with occupancies from n 0 1 to n 0 5 and todirectly image their spatial distributions.
Bosons with repulsive interactions in an
optical lattice can qualitatively be described by
the Hamiltonian (10, 1),
Ĥ 0 jJXbi, jÀ

â.i aj þ 1=2 UXXn̂i ðn̂i j 1Þ þiðei j mÞn̂i

ð1Þ

i

where the first two terms are the usual
Hamiltonian for the Bose-Hubbard model, thelast term adds in the external trapping potential,
and J is the tunneling term between nearest
neighbors, â.i and âi are the boson creation anddestruction operators at a given lattice site. U 0(4pI2a/m)Xkw(x)k4d3x is the repulsive onsite
interaction, where I is Planck_s constant divided
by 2p, m is the atomic mass, a is the s-wave
scattering length, w(x) is the single particle
Wannier function localized to the ith lattice site,
and n̂i 0 â.i âi is the number operator for bosonswww.sciencemag.org

SCIENCEVOL 313at site i. The last term in the Hamiltonian is dueto the external trapping confinement of theatoms, where ei 0 Vext(ri ) is the energy offset
at the ith site due to the external confinement
and m is the chemical potential.
The behavior of this system is determined by
the ratio J/U. For low lattice depths, the ratio islarge and the system is superfluid. For larger
lattice depths, the repulsive onsite energy begins
to dominate, and the system undergoes aquantum phase transition to a MI phase. For
deep lattices, the atoms are localized to individual lattice sites with integer filling factor n. Thisfilling factor varies locally depending on thelocal chemical potential mi 0 m j ei as
n 0 Modðmi =U Þð2Þwhere Mod is the modulo and decreases fromthe center to the edge of the trap.
To prepare the atoms in the Mott insulatingphase, we first created a 87Rb Bose-Einsteincondensate in the the kF 0 1, mF 0 j1À state(where F and mF are the quantum numbers forthe total spin and its t component, respectively)by using a combination of an Ioffe-Pritchardmagnetic trap and an optical dipole trap. The
optical trap was oriented perpendicular to thelong axis of the magnetic trap, creating a moreisotropic trapping potential that was better
matched to the optical lattice. The laser beam
for the optical trap had a 1/e 2 waist , 70 mm
and was retroreflected. However, the polarization of the retroreflected beam was rotated suchthat the interference between the two beams
had minimal contrast. The resulting trap hadradial and axial trap frequencies of w 0 2p 
70 Hz and w 0 2p  20 Hz, respectively, where
the axial direction is now parallel to the optical
trap. A three-dimensional (3D) optical lattice
was created by adding two additional retroreflected laser beams derived from the same laser
at l 0 1064 nm. The lattice was adiabaticallyramped up by rotating the polarization of theretroreflected optical trapping beam to increase
the interference contrast along that axis and byincreasing the laser power in the other two axes.
The lattice depth was increased by using an
exponential ramp with a 40-ms time constant.
After ramping on the lattice, all three beams werelinearly polarized orthogonal to each other and4 AUGUST 2006

649

REPORTS
had different frequency detunings generated byusing acousto-optic modulators. The lattice depth
was up to 40Erec, where Erec 0 I2k2/2m is therecoil energy and k 0 2p/l is the wave vector of
the lattice light. At 40Erec, the lattice trap
frequency at each site was wlat 0 2p  25 kHz,and the external trap frequencies increased tow 0 2p  110 Hz and w 0 2p  30 Hz in theradial and axial directions, respectively.
Zeeman shifts and broadening of the clocktransition from the F 0 1 to the F 0 2 state were
avoided by using a two photon transition
between the k1, j1À state and the k2, 1À state,
where at a magnetic bias field of È 3.23 G bothstates have the same first-order Zeeman shift(11). The two-photon pulse was composed of
one microwave photon at a fixed frequency of
6.83 GHz and one radio frequency (rf) photon ata frequency of around 1.67 MHz. The pulse had
a duration of 100 ms, and when on resonancethe fraction of atoms transferred to the k2, 1À

state was less than 20%. After the pulse, atoms
in the k2, 1À state were selectively detected withabsorption imaging by using light resonant withthe 52S/ k2, 1À Y 52P/ k3, 1À transition. For
observing the spatial distribution of the Mott
shells, we imaged the atoms in the trap. For
recording spectra, we released the atoms fromthe trap and imaged them after 3 ms of ballistic
expansion in order to reduce the column density.
When the two-photon spectroscopy is performed on a trapped condensate without a lattice,
the atoms transferred to the k2, 1À state have aslightly different mean field energy because of thedifference between a21 and a11 scattering lengths,
where a21 is the scattering length between two
atoms in states k2, 1À and k1, j1À and a11 is thescattering length between two atoms in the
k1, j1À state. This difference in scattering
lengths leads to a density-dependent shift to theresonance frequency, Dn º r(a21 j a11), wherer is the condensate density (11). This collisional
1

3

2

2

shift is commonly referred to as the clock shift(12) because of its importance in atomic clocks,
where cold collisions currently limit the accuracy (13, 14). When performed on a condensate
with peak density r0 in a harmonic trap in thelimit of weak excitation, the line shape for thetwo-photon resonance is given by (15):15hðv j v0 ÞIðvÞ 0
4r0 DEsﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃﬃ
hðv j v0 Þ
1j
r0 DE

ð3Þ

where n0 is the hyperfine transition frequency
and the mean field energy difference is
DE 0h2ða21 j a11 Þpm

ð4ÞIn the case of 87Rb, a21 0 5.19 nm and a11 0
5.32 nm (16). Both the frequency shift and thelinewidth increase with the condensate density.
As the lattice is ramped on, the peak density of
the condensate in a given lattice site increases asr0 ðrÞ 0 m j 1=2 mw2trap r2 1=U

ð5Þ

where wtrap is the external trap frequency for the
combined magnetic and optical trap, and, byusing the Thomas-Fermi approximation m, thechemical potential, is given by"
m0

Fig. 1. Two-photon spectroscopy across the superfluid-to-MI transition. Spectra for 3D lattice depths of
0Erec (open squares), 5Erec (open triangles), 10Erec (open circles), 25Erec (solid squares), and 35Erec(solid circles) are shown. The spectra are offset for clarity. The shift in the center of the n 0 1 peak as
the lattice depth is increased is due to the differential AC Stark shift from the lattice. The dotted lines
show Gaussian fits of the peaks.
Fig. 2. Probing theonsite interaction energy.
(A) The separation between the n 0 1 andn 0 2 peaks is shown for
lattice depths of V 0
25Erec (square) and V 0
35Erec (circle). As thelattice depth was increased, the separation
increased from 22(1) Hz
to 30(1) Hz. The shaded
area gives the expected value determined from a band structure
calculation, including the uncertainty in the scattering lengths. The
uncertainty in the measured separation is indicated by the size of thepoints. (B) Location of resonances for all MI phases relative to the n 0 1
phase for V 0 25Erec and V 0 35Erec. For low site occupation (n values

650

4 AUGUST 2006

VOL 3133=

3
3
2=16 ðl=2Þ mpﬃﬃﬃ NU wtrap
2p

15

#2=5
ð6Þ

where N is the total atom number. For low lattice
depths, the system is still a superfluid, delocalized
over the entire lattice. However, the two-photon
resonance line is shifted and broadened becauseof the increased density, with the center of theresonance at n 0 n0 þ 2r0DE/3h. For deep
lattices in the MI regime, the repulsive onsite
interaction dominates, number fluctuations aresuppressed, and each lattice site has a sharp
resonance frequency determined by the occupation number in the site. The separation between

from 1 to 3), the separation between the resonances is roughly constant,
implying constant U. For V 0 35Erec, the separation between the n 0 4 andn 0 5 peaks was 22(2) Hz, a 27% decrease from the 30(1) Hz separation
between the n 0 1 and n 0 2 peaks. The slope of the lines is fit to theseparation between the n 0 1 and n 0 2 peaks.
SCIENCEwww.sciencemag.org

REPORTS
the resonance frequencies for the n and n j 1
MI phases is given by
dv 0Uða21 j a11 Þ=a11h

ð7Þ

The linewidth of the resonances is no longer
broadened by the inhomogeneous density andshould be limited only by the bandwidth of thetwo-photon pulse.
The resonance transitioned from a broadenedline to several sharp lines as the lattice depth wasincreased (Fig. 1). At a lattice depth of V 0 5Erec,the line was broadened and the line center was
shifted slightly because of the increased density.
At V 0 10Erec, the line was shifted and broadened
further, and in addition the line shape became
asymmetric as the atom number in lattice sites
with small occupation was squeezed. For deeper
lattice depths, the system underwent a phasetransition to a MI phase, and discrete peaks
appeared, corresponding to MI phases withdifferent filling factors; for V 0 35Erec, MI phaseswith occupancies of up to five were observed.
When the lattice depth was increased inside
the MI regime (from V 0 25Erec to V 0 35Erec),the separation between the resonance peaks
increased, presumably because of the larger
onsite interaction energy as the lattice trap wasincreased. As given in Eq. 7, the separation
between the peaks provides a direct measurement of the onsite interaction energy, U. Our
results are in good agreement with calculated
values of U (Fig. 2A). Although the separation
between the n 0 1, n 0 2, and n 0 3 peaks isroughly constant, for higher filling factors theseparation between the peaks decreases; theeffective onsite interaction energy becomes
smaller for higher filling factors (Fig. 2B). This
result shows that for low occupation numbers theatoms occupy the ground state wave function of
the lattice site, whereas for larger occupation
numbers, the repulsive onsite interaction causes
the wave function to spread out, lowering theinteraction energy. From a variational calculation of the wave function similar to (17), we

find that the onsite energy for the n 0 5 shellshould be È20% smaller than that for the n 0 1
shell, in agreement with the measured value(Fig. 2B).
The peaks for the different occupation
numbers were spectrally well separated. Therefore, on resonance, only atoms from a single
shell were transferred to the k2, 1À state. An
image of these atoms (without any time offlight) shows the spatial distribution of thisshell. Figure 3B shows absorption images forn 0 1 to n 0 5 shells. As predicted (1), the n 0 1
MI phase appears near the outer edge of thecloud. For larger n, the radius of the shelldecreases, and the n 0 5 sites form a core in
the center of the cloud. The expected radius foreach shell was obtained from Eq. 2 by using
the measured values for the onsite interaction.
The observed radii were in good agreement
except for the n 0 1 shell, which may havebeen affected by anharmonicities in the external trap. Absorption images taken with rf
values between the peaks show a small signal,
which may reflect the predicted thin superfluidlayers between the insulating shells; however,this needs be studied further with improved
signal-to-noise ratio. The expected absorption

image of a shell should show a column densitywith a flat distribution in the center and raisededges. However, because of limitations (resolution and residual fringes) in our imaging
system, these edges were not resolved.
Because we were able to address the different MI phases separately, we could determine
the lifetime for each shell. For this, the atoms
were first held in the lattice for a variable time t
before applying the 100-ms two-photon pulse.
For the n 0 1 MI phase and ignoring technicalnoise, the lifetime should only be limited byspontaneous scattering from the lattice beams.
Even for the deepest lattices, the spontaneous
scattering rate is less than 10j2 Hz. For the n 0
2 MI phase, the lifetime is limited by dipolar
relaxation, which for 87Rb is slow, with a rate G
10j2 Hz. For sites with n Q 3, the lifetime islimited by three-body recombination with a rateequal to gn(n j 1)(n j 2) (18), with g 0 0.026
Hz for our parameters. This gives three-body
lifetimes of t3B of 6.2 s, 1.6 s, and 0.6 s for then 0 3, n 0 4, and n 0 5 MI phases, respectively.
This calculation of g assumes for the density
distribution the ground state of the harmonic
oscillator potential, so for higher filling factors the actual lifetime could be higher. We
Fig. 4. Lifetime of individual MI shells.The lifetime foreach MI phase can bemeasured independently byadding a hold time before
applying the two-photon
pulse. Spectra are shownfor hold times of 0 ms (solid
circles), 100 ms (solid
squares), 400 ms (opencircles), and 2000 ms (opensquares). The lattice depth
was V 0 35Erec except forthe 100-ms hold time, forwhich it was V 0 34Erec. Thelines show Gaussian fits tothe peaks, and the spectra
were offset for clarity.

Fig. 3. Imaging the shell structure of the MI. (A) Spectrum of the MI at V 0
35Erec. (B) Absorption images for for decreasing rf frequencies. Images a toe were taken on resonance with the peaks shown in (A) and display thespatial distribution of the n 01 to n 0 5 shells. The solid lines shows thepredicted contours of the shells. Absorption images taken for rf frequencies between the peaks (images i to iv) show a much smaller signal. The field ofview was 185 mm by 80 mm.
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REPORTS
show relative populations as a function of thehold time and derive lifetimes as t almost
equal to 1 s, 0.5 s, and 0.2 s for the n 0 3, n 04, and n 0 5 MI phases, respectively (Fig. 4);
this is shorter than predicted, which is possibly
due to secondary collisions. For n 0 1 and n 02, lifetimes of over 5 s were observed.
We expect that this method can be used tomeasure the number statistics as the system undergoes the phase transition. One would expectthat the spectral peaks for higher occupation number become pronounced only at higher lattice
depth; an indication of this can be seen already in
Fig. 1. For low lattice depths, the tunneling rate isstill high, but one can suddenly increase the lattice depth and freeze in populations (19), which
can then be probed with high-resolution spectroscopy. Fluctuations in the atom number could
identify the superfluid layers between the Mott
shells. In addition, by applying a magnetic gradient across the lattice, tomographic slices could
be selected, combining full 3D resolution with
spectral resolution of the site occupancy. These
techniques may address questions about local
properties that have been raised in recent theoretical simulations (20). The addressability of

individual shells could be used to create systems
with only selected occupation numbers (e.g., byremoving atoms in other shells). Such a preparation could be important for the implementation ofquantum gates, for which homogenous filling isdesirable. For atoms other than rubidium, atomic
clock shifts are much larger, e.g., for sodium,larger by a factor of 30. Therefore, it should beeasier to resolve the MI shells, unless thecollisional lifetime of the upper state of the clocktransition sets a severe limit to the pulse duration.
Note added in proof: After submission ofthis work, the vertical profile of an n 0 2 MIshell was obtained by using spin-changing
collisions and a magnetic resonance imaging
technique (21).
References and Notes
1. D. Jaksch, C. Bruder, J. I. Cirac, C. W. Gardiner, P. Zoller,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 3108 (1998).
2. G. G. Batrouni et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 117203 (2002).
3. B. Marco, C. Lannert, S. Vishveshwara, T. C. Wei, Phys.
Rev. A. 71, 063601 (2005).
4. M. Greiner, O. Mandel, T. Esslinger, T. W. Hänsch, I. Bloch,
Nature 415, 39 (2002).
5. I. Bloch, Nature Phys. 1, 23 (2005).
6. T. Stöferle, H. Moritz, C. Schori, M. Köhl, T. Esslinger,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 130403 (2004).

Evidence for a Past High-Eccentricity
Lunar Orbit
Ian Garrick-Bethell,* Jack Wisdom, Maria T. Zuber
The large differences between the Moon’s three principal moments of inertia have been a mysterysince Laplace considered them in 1799. Here we present calculations that show how past higheccentricity orbits can account for the moment differences, represented by the low-order lunar
gravity field and libration parameters. One of our solutions is that the Moon may have once been
in a 3:2 resonance of orbit period to spin period, similar to Mercury’s present state. The possibilityof past high-eccentricity orbits suggests a rich dynamical history and may influence ourunderstanding of the early thermal evolution of the Moon.
he Moon is generally thought to haveaccreted close to the Earth and migrated
outwards in a synchronously locked loweccentricity orbit. During the early part of thismigration, the Moon was cooling and continuallysubjected to tidal and rotational stretching. The
principal moments of inertia A G B G C of any
satellite are altered in a predictable way by
deformation due to spin and tidal attraction. The
moments are typically characterized by ratiosthat are easier to measure, namely, the libration
parameters b 0 (C – A)/B and g 0 (B – A)/C,
and the degree-2 spherical-harmonic gravity
coefficients C20 0 (2C – B – A)/(2Mr2) andC22 0 (B – A)/(4Mr2), where M and r are thesatellite mass and radius. Of these four values

T

Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts
Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:iang@mit.edu

652

b, g, and C20 can be taken as independent.
Using the ratio (C – A)/A, Laplace was the firstto observe that the lunar moments are not in
equilibrium with the Moon_s current orbital
state (1). He did not, however, address thepossibility of a Bfossil bulge,[ or the frozen
remnant of a state when the Moon was closer tothe Earth. Sedgwick examined the lunar
moments in 1898, as did Jeffreys in 1915 and1937, and both authors effectively showed thatb is too large for the current orbit, suggestingthat the Moon may carry a fossil bulge (2–5).
However, Jeffreys showed that the fossil
hypothesis might be untenable because the ratioof g/b 0 0.36 does not match the predicted ratioof 0.75 for a circular synchronous orbit (equivalently, C20/C22 0 9.1, instead of the predictedratio of 3.33). Indeed, using data from (6), noneof the three independent measures of moments
represent a low-eccentricity synchronous-orbithydrostatic form; C20 0 2.034  10j4 is 22
times too large for the current state, and b 0

4 AUGUST 2006

VOL 313SCIENCE7. S. Fölling et al., Nature 434, 481 (2005).
8. T. Volz et al., published online 8 May 2006
(http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat?papernum00605184).
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 090401 (2006).
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22. The authors thank I. Bloch and S. Fölling for insightful
discussions. This work was supported by NSF. L.G.M. also
acknowledges support from Fundac$ão de Apoio a Pesquisa
do Estrado de São Paulo.
23 May 2006; accepted 7 July 2006
10.1126/science.1130365

6.315  10j4 and g 0 2.279  10j4 are 17 and8 times too large, respectively (7, 8).
The inappropriate ratio of g/b or C20/C22 has
led some to dismiss the fossil bulge hypothesis as noise due to random density anomalies(9, 10). However, the power of the seconddegree harmonic gravity field is anomalously
high when compared to the power expectedfrom back extrapolating the power of higher
harmonics (7, 11). This suggests that the bulge
may be interpreted as a signal of someprocess. Degree-2 mantle convection has been
proposed as a means of deforming the Moon
(12, 13), but the dissimilarity of all three principal moments violates the symmetry of any
simple degree-2 convection model (12). The
Moon_s center-of-mass/center-of-figure offset
influences the moment parameters slightly,
but that problem is geophysically separate andmathematically insignificant to the degree-2
problem (8, 14).
Because C20 is due primarily to rotational
flattening, and C22 is due to tidal stretching,
the high C20/C22 ratio seems to imply that theMoon froze in its moments while rotating
faster than synchronous. However, in suchcases no constant face would be presented to
the Earth for any C22 power to form in aunique lunar axis. This apparent dilemma can
be avoided by considering that in any eccentric orbit with an orbit period to spin period
ratio given by n:2, with n 0 2, 3, 4, I, thepassage through pericenter results in higher
C22 stresses throughout a single elongatedaxis (hereafter called the pericenter axis).
When the stresses experienced over one orbit
period are time-averaged, the highest stresses

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148

Appendix E
Parametric Amplification of
Scattered Atom Pairs
This appendix contains a reprint of Ref. [19]: Gretchen K. Campbell, Jongchul
Mun, Micah Boyd, Erik W. Streed, Wolfgang Ketterle, and David E. Pritchard
Parametric Amplification of Scattered Atom Pairs, Physical Review Letters 96,
020406 (2006).

149

PRL 96, 020406 (2006)

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

week ending
20 JANUARY 2006

Parametric Ampliﬁcation of Scattered Atom Pairs
Gretchen K. Campbell, Jongchul Mun, Micah Boyd, Erik W. Streed, Wolfgang Ketterle, and David E. Pritchard*
MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms, Research Laboratory of Electronics and Department of Physics,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA(Received 12 September 2005; published 19 January 2006)
We have observed parametric generation and ampliﬁcation of ultracold atom pairs. A 87 Rb BoseEinstein condensate was loaded into a one-dimensional optical lattice with quasimomentum k0 and
spontaneously scattered into two ﬁnal states with quasimomenta k1 and k2 . Furthermore, when a seed of
atoms was ﬁrst created with quasimomentum k1 we observed parametric ampliﬁcation of scattered atoms
pairs in states k1 and k2 when the phase-matching condition was fulﬁlled. This process is analogous to
optical parametric generation and ampliﬁcation of photons and could be used to efﬁciently create
entangled pairs of atoms. Furthermore, these results explain the dynamic instability of condensates inmoving lattices observed in recent experiments.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.020406

PACS numbers: 03.75.Kk, 03.75.Lm, 05.45.aNonlinear atom optics is a novel research area born withthe advent of Bose-Einstein condensates of alkali atoms[1]. Unlike photons, ultracold atoms have a very strong
nonlinearity directly provided by s-wave collisions, andtherefore they do not need a nonlinear medium to provide
effective interaction. A number of nonlinear processes ﬁrst
observed with photons have been demonstrated with matterwaves such as four-wave mixing [2,3], solitons [4 –7],
second-harmonic generation [8–11], and sum-frequency
generation [9]. Nonlinear atom optics, and, in particular,
four-wave mixing, has previously been suggested as an
ideal way to create entangled pairs of atoms [3,12,13].
However, in previous four-wave mixing experiments[2,3] using condensates in free space, the quadratic dispersion relation for free particles only allowed for the phasematching condition to be fulﬁlled when the magnitudes of
all four momenta were equal (in the center-of-mass frame).
This is the only way in which two particles can scatter off
each other and conserve energy and momentum. In particular, in free space, if a condensate is moving with
momentum k0 , atoms within the condensate cannot elastically scatter into different momentum states, and therefore
the analog to optical parametric generation of photons is
not possible.
The situation is very different when an optical lattice isadded. The lattice delivers energy in the form of the ac
Stark effect and momentum in units of 2@kL to the atoms,
where kL is the wave vector of the optical lattice. The
motion of atoms in this periodic potential is described bya band structure, which deviates from the quadratic freeparticle dispersion curve. In a lattice, as recently suggested[14], it becomes possible for two atoms in the condensate
to collide and scatter into a higher and lower quasimomentum state and conserve energy. As we discuss below, thiscan lead to dynamic instabilities of the condensate, but alsoenables nondegenerate four-wave mixing and the atomoptics analog of optical parametric generation.
Phase matching is essential for high efﬁciency in nonlinear processes in quantum optics including optical para0031-9007=06=96(2)=020406(4)$23.00

metric generation of photons [15], and a modiﬁcation of
the dispersion curve has been used to demonstrate opticalparametric ampliﬁcation in semiconductor microcavities[16]. In atom optics, dispersion management was used tomodify the effective mass of atoms [17], and to create
bright gap solitons [18]. Here we demonstrate that bymodifying the dispersion curve using an optical lattice,scattering processes which cannot occur in free spacebecome possible, and we realize the matter-wave analogueof an optical parametric generator (OPG) and an opticalparametric ampliﬁer (OPA).
To demonstrate the matter-wave analogue of an OPG, a
87
Rb Bose-Einstein condensate with quasimomentum k0
was loaded into a one-dimensional optical lattice. To load
the atoms at a given quasimomentum relative to theBrillouin zone, a moving optical lattice was adiabaticallyapplied to a magnetically trapped condensate initially at
rest in the lab frame. The lattice was created using two
counter-propagating laser beams with frequency difference
, giving the lattice a velocity of v  2 , where  is the
wavelength of the optical lattice. In the rest frame of thelattice, the condensate has quasimomentum k0  m
2@ ,
where m is the atomic mass. By changing the detuning
between the lattice beams, , k0 could be varied. As
shown in Fig. 1(d), as the value of k0 was varied weobserved elastic scattering of atom pairs into ﬁnal states
k1 and k2 . The range of possible ﬁnal states varied with k0
due to the phase-matching condition. For values of k0 lessthan  0:55kL the dispersion relation imposed by the
Bloch structure of the optical lattice does not allow elastic
scattering to occur. For our lattice depth of V  0:5Erec ,where Erec  @2 k2L =2m, the values of k2 which satisﬁed
energy and momentum conservation were beyond the ﬁrst
Brillouin zone. Since the scattering process occurs within
the ﬁrst Bloch band, the atoms in state k2 have a quasimomentum k2  2k0  k1 Mod 2kL  [see Fig. 1(a)]. As thevalue for  (and the resulting value of k0 ) is increased, theseparation between k0 and the allowed states k1 and k2
decreases as is clearly observed in Fig. 1(d). For values of020406-1© 2006 The American Physical Society

(a)

(d)

(e)

(a)

δν=4800 Hz

Energy [Erec]

ka

k2

k2
δν=5200 Hz

k0

0.6

k1

δν=5400 Hz

k0

k0=0.64kL

kBragg=(ka-kb)

(c)

0.4

k2

k1

ν1

k0

k2

k1

k0

δν=6000 Hz

0.08

ν2
δν=6000 Hz

(c)

k1

(d)

k0=0.69kL

Fraction of Atoms in k2(b)δν=5600 Hz-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0
Quasimomentum [kL]

kb

(b)
k2

0.8

δν=4900 Hz

k0=0.59kL

1.2
1.0

week ending
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PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERSPRL 96, 020406 (2006)

k0=0.74kL

k0

0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
-0.02

FIG. 1. Dispersion curve for the optical lattice and experimental setup. (a) Band structure for a lattice depth of V  0:5Erec .
The dashed line shows the free particle dispersion curve. The
dispersion relation of the lattice allows two atoms with momentum k0 to elastically scatter into the ﬁnal momentum states k1
and k2 . Energy and quasimomentum are conserved when k0 is
the average of k1 and k2 and the three points on the dispersion
curve lie on a straight line. If k0 is varied, the allowed values for
k1 and k2 change. For values of k0 below  0:55kL , where kL is
the wave vector of the optical lattice, atoms cannot scatter
elastically into different momentum states. The circles (squares)
show allowed states k0 ; k1 ; k2 for k0  0:66kL (0:70kL ). As k0 isincreased, the ﬁnal momentum states move closer together. Since
the scattering occurs within the lowest band of the lattice, theﬁnal momentum is k2  2k0  k1 Mod 2kL . (b) A 87 Rb BoseEinstein condensate is illuminated by two counter-propagating
laser beams with detuning , which create a moving opticallattice. The condensate is initially held at rest. In the rest frameof the lattice, the condensate has quasimomentum k0  m
2@ .
(c) As k0 was varied, we observed elastic scattering into states k1
and k2 . (d) Absorption images for different lattice detunings, ,showing parametric generation. After ramping up the lattice, theatoms were held for 10 ms at a constant lattice depth. They werethen released from the trap and imaged after 43 ms of ballistic
expansion. The ﬁeld of view is 0:5 mm  0:3 mm.

k0 above  0:75kL , the ﬁnal momentum states were nolonger distinguishable, and the condensate became
unstable.
To demonstrate the matter-wave analogue of an OPA,
we ﬁrst created a small seed of atoms with quasimomentum k1 before ramping on the moving lattice (see Fig. 2).
To create the seed we applied a Bragg pulse to the magnetically trapped condensate, outcoupling a small fractionof atoms into the momentum state kBragg [19]. Immediately
after applying the pulse, the optical lattice was adiabatically ramped on. In the rest frame of the lattice, the seedhas quasimomentum k1  kBragg  k0 . The phasematching condition for a given seed kBragg was found byvarying the frequency difference  of the lattice, andtherefore the quasimomenta k0 and k1 of the atoms. As
shown in Fig. 2(d), when the phase-matching condition
was fulﬁlled, we observed ampliﬁcation of the seed k1 as

4600

5000

5400

5800

6200

Lattice Detuning [Hz]FIG. 2. Parametric ampliﬁcation of scattered atom pairs in a
1D optical lattice. (a) First, a 2 ms Bragg pulse was applied to thecondensate. (b) The Bragg pulse seeded atoms along the longaxis of the condensate with momentum kBragg  ka  kb  in thelab frame. (c) The optical lattice was then adiabatically ramped
on and applied for 10 ms. When the phase-matching condition
was fulﬁlled, parametric ampliﬁcation of atoms in the seededstate k1 and its conjugate momentum state k2 was observed.
(d) Resonance curve showing ampliﬁcation of k2 , when k1 wasseeded. Ampliﬁcation occurred only when the phase-matchingcondition was met. For a ﬁxed kBragg , the resonance condition
was found by varying the detuning  of the lattice. The data
was taken for kBragg  0:43kL . The fraction of ampliﬁed atoms
was obtained by subtracting images with and without the seedpulse. (e) Absorption images showing ampliﬁcation of k1 and k2
when the phase-matching condition is met. The center of theresonance was at   5450 Hz, close to the calculated value of  5350 Hz. The width of the resonance is determined by the
Fourier width of the Bragg pulse. Most of the scattered atoms in
the third image were independent of the seed pulse.

well as its conjugate momentum k2 . The growth of k1 andk2 as a function of time are shown in Fig. 3.
The experiments were performed using an elongated
87 Rb condensate created in a magnetic trap previously
described in Ref. [20]. The magnetic trap had a radial(axial) trap frequency of 35(8) Hz. The condensate, containing between 0:5–3:0  105 atoms, was produced in the
j52 S1=2 ; F  1; mF  1i state. The Bragg pulse was created with two laser beams derived from the same laser,which was red detuned from the 52 S1=2 ; F  1 !
52 P3=2 ; F  1 transition at   780 nm by 400 MHz,and was  polarized. As shown in Fig. 2, the Bragg beams
were aligned such that atoms were outcoupled along thelong axis of the condensate. The intensity of the Bragg
pulse was chosen such that less than 5% of the initialcondensate was outcoupled into kBragg , and the length ofthe pulse was 2 ms. The angle between the Bragg beams
could be varied to change the momentum of the outcoupledatoms. The optical lattice was created using two counter-020406-2

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERSPRL 96, 020406 (2006)(a)Fraction of Atoms

0.30

0.20

0.10

0.00
0

4

0

4

8

12

16

8

12

16

Hold Time (ms)(b)
Fraction of Atoms

0.30

0.20

0.10

0.00

Hold Time (ms)FIG. 3. Growth curve for atomic population in quasimomentum states k1 and k2 when the process was seeded.
(a) Ampliﬁcation of atoms with quasimomentum k1 (solid
points), and with the conjugate momentum k2 (open points),
when state k1 was seeded. (b) Ampliﬁcation of atoms in k1 (solid
points), and k2 (open points), when k2 was seeded. The values for
k0 ; k1 ; k2 were 0:66kL , 0:23kL , and 0:92kL respectively. The
solid lines shows the expected gain using Eq. (1) with variable
scale factors for each curve as the only free parameters.

propagating beams derived from the same laser with  1064 nm, and the frequency of the two beams were controlled by two separate acousto-optic modulators (AOMs)
driven with a frequency difference . The lattice was alsoaligned along the long axis of the condensate, and wasramped on in 1 ms using an exponential ramp. After thecondensate was held in the lattice for a variable time  it
was then released from the trap and imaged after 43 ms ofballistic expansion.
For all of our experiments, the depth of the optical lattice
was V  0:5Erec with a band structure shown in Fig. 1.
When the process was not seeded, atoms were elasticallyscattered into a narrow band of states k1 and k2 , where both
energy and momentum were conserved. However, thepopulation in neither state was large enough for ampliﬁcation to be observed. When the process was seeded, ampliﬁcation occurred when the quasimomentum was tuned
such that energy and momentum were conserved for thestates k0 , k1 , and the conjugate momentum k2 . In our
experiment, the difference k  k0  k1 between the quasimomenta of the condensate k0 and seed k1 was set by theangle of the initial Bragg pulse. For a given Bragg angle,
there is only one set of quasimomenta k0 , k1 , and k2 where
the phase-matching condition is fulﬁlled. To ﬁnd this point,
we varied the velocity of the moving lattice for ﬁxed holdweek ending
20 JANUARY 2006

times. Results for kBragg  0:43kL are shown in Fig. 2. The
phase-matched value for k2 is at 1:08kL , beyond the boundary of the ﬁrst Briollouin zone. Therefore, the atoms areobserved with a momentum k2  0:92kL . For kBragg 
0:43kL , 0:34kL , and 0:28kL , we observed resonances at  5450 Hz, 5750 Hz, and 6100 Hz, respectively. For
these Bragg angles and our lattice depth, the expectedvalues were 5350 Hz, 5700 Hz, and 6050 Hz.
In Fig. 3, 5% of the initial condensate containing N0 
1:33  105 atoms was outcoupled with kBragg  0:43kL .
The gain for the process is determined by the strength of2athe nonlinear interaction U  4@m between atoms in thecondensate, where a is the s-wave scattering length. We
can estimate the maximum ampliﬁcation rate to be  
2n0 U=@ [3], with N_ 12  N21 , where N12 is the number of atoms in the momentum state k12 , and n0 is thecondensate density. For N0  1:33  105 , the maximum
growth rate should be   540 Hz. The ampliﬁcation rate
will decrease as the state k0 is depleted. However, for oursmall seeds, the ampliﬁcation was limited by the loss ofoverlap between the condensate and the ampliﬁed pulses.
The Thomas-Fermi radius (RTF ) of the condensate in theaxial direction was 33 m, and the recoil velocity (vrec )for the ﬁnal states k1 and k2 with respect to the initialcondensate was vrec  1:8 m=ms and 6:8 m=ms, respectively. The overlap integral between the ampliﬁed
atoms and the initial condensate can be approximated asa Gaussian with time constant c  0:75RTF =vrec , which
for our parameters is 3.75 ms. We compare our results tothe modiﬁed rate equation22
N_ 21  N12 et =c :(1)

Since atoms are scattered into states k1 and k2 in pairs, one
would expect that the ﬁnal atom number in the two states(minus the initial seed) are equal. Instead, we observe asmaller number in state k2 which we ascribe to the proximity of k2 to the boundary of Brillouin zone. This leads toinstabilities, where atoms in state k2 are scattered into othermomentum states or into higher bands. If we allow avariable scale factor in our model to correct for the lossof atoms in N2 , as shown in Fig. 3, the gain for N1;2 is inagreement with the experimental data.
Ampliﬁcation was also observed when atoms wereseeded in state k2 . Because of the geometry of our experimental setup, we were unable to load atoms directly into
k2  0:92kL . However when atoms with quasimomentum k  1:08kL were loaded into the lattice, the ramp-up
was no longer adiabatic due to their proximity to theboundary of the ﬁrst Brillouin zone. Because of this, atoms
from the seed were loaded into both the second Bloch band(with k  1:08kL ) and the ground state (with k 0:92kL  k2 ). As shown in Fig. 3(b), the gain for thisprocess was almost identical to when atoms were seeded instate k1 .

020406-3

PRL 96, 020406 (2006)

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

The loss of overlap could be alleviated by using a more
extreme trap geometry in which the condensate is moreelongated, e.g., by conﬁning atoms in a tight transverse
optical lattice. In this conﬁguration, it may be possible toobserve the parametric scattering dynamics for longer timescales, which may allow for the observation of Rabi oscillations between k0 and k1 , k2 as predicted in Ref. [14]. For
longer coherence times, parametric ampliﬁcation could
also be an efﬁcient means of producing pairs of momentum
entangled atoms for quantum information applications[12,13], but the issue of secondary collisions out of states
k1 and k2 has to be carefully addressed.
For high atom numbers, and for large values of k0 , thecondensate became unstable and scattered into a broadband of ﬁnal momentum states [Fig. 2(e)]. For kBragg 
0:43kL , the energy of atoms outcoupled by the Bragg
beams was  370 Hz, whereas the chemical potential of
the condensate was  300 Hz. Because of this, if the atom
number was increased signiﬁcantly the momentum peaks
were no longer distinguishable. When the chemical potential of the condensate was larger than the separation between the phase-matched momentum states, the process
was self-seeded; i.e., the momentum spread of the initialcondensate contained atoms with momentum k0 , k1 , andk2 , and considerable scattering occurred. Similarly, if theatom number was kept constant, and the value of k0 wasincreased, the phase-matched momentum states moved
closer together until they were no longer distinguishable.
This occurred at values of k0 above  0:75kL , and we
observed a dynamic instability. For larger atom numbers,
the critical value of k0 decreases. For values of k0 less than
0:55k0 elastic scattering cannot occur, and the systemshould be stable for all atom numbers. Instabilities ofcondensates in optical lattices has attracted much attention
recently, both theoretically [21–28] and experimentally[29–33]. Most recently, dynamic instabilities of condensates in moving lattices were observed in Refs. [29,30]. In
Ref. [30], the chemical potential was a factor of 3 higher
than in our experiment, leading to a dynamic instability for
all values of k0 above 0:55kL . Although discrete momentum states could not be observed in those experiments, it ispossible that the mechanism for the dynamic instability is
self-seeded parametric ampliﬁcation. Indeed, the phasematching condition for parametric ampliﬁcation is identical to the resonance condition for dynamic instability in thenoninteracting limit [21]. After the submission of thisLetter, recent work on period-doubling instabilities in a
shaken optical lattice [34] was reinterpreted as parametricampliﬁcation [35].
In conclusion, we have demonstrated a matter-wave
analogue of both optical parametric generation and opticalparametric ampliﬁcation using a condensate moving in a
one-dimensional optical lattice. The optical lattice modiﬁed the dispersion curve and ensured phase matching. If
the separation of the phase-matched momentum statesweek ending
20 JANUARY 2006

becomes less than the speed of sound, a condensate will
self-seed the process and become dynamically unstable.
The authors thank K. Mølmer for pointing out thisphysical process to us, M. Inguscio and M. Modugno for
insightful discussions, M. Saba for helpful discussions anda critical reading of the manuscript, and P. Medley forexperimental assistance. This work was supported by
NSF and ARO.

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Appendix F
Continuous and Pulsed Quantum
Zeno EffectThis appendix contains a reprint of Ref. [119]: Erik W. Streed, Jongchul Mun,
Micah Boyd, Gretchen K. Campbell, Patrick Medley, Wolfgang Ketterle, and David
E. Pritchard Continuous and Pulsed Quantum Zeno Effect, Physical Review Letters97, 260402 (2006).

155

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PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERSPRL 97, 260402 (2006)

Continuous and Pulsed Quantum Zeno EffectErik W. Streed,1,2 Jongchul Mun,1 Micah Boyd,1 Gretchen K. Campbell,1 Patrick Medley,1Wolfgang Ketterle,1 and David E. Pritchard1
1

Department of Physics, MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms, and Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT,
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
2
Centre for Quantum Dynamics, Grifﬁth University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia(Received 14 June 2006; published 27 December 2006)
Continuous and pulsed quantum Zeno effects were observed using a 87 Rb Bose-Einstein condensate.
Oscillations between two ground hyperﬁne states of a magnetically trapped condensate, externally driven
at a transition rate !R , were suppressed by destructively measuring the population in one of the states withresonant light. The suppression of the transition rate in the two-level system was quantiﬁed for pulsed
measurements with a time interval t between pulses and continuous measurements with a scattering rate. We observe that the continuous measurements exhibit the same suppression in the transition rate as thepulsed measurements when t  3:600:43, in agreement with the predicted value of 4. Increasing themeasurement rate suppressed the transition rate down to 0:005!R .
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.260402

PACS numbers: 03.65.Xp, 03.75.Mn, 42.50.Xa

The quantum Zeno effect (QZE) is the suppression oftransitions between quantum states by frequent measurements. It was ﬁrst considered as a theoretical problem
where the continuous observation of an unstable particle
would prevent its decay [1]. Experimental demonstrationsof the QZE [2 –8] have been driven by interest in both
fundamental physics and practical applications. Practicalapplications of the QZE include reducing decoherence inquantum computing [8–10], efﬁcient preservation of spinpolarized gases [3,4,6], and dosage reduction in neutron
tomography [11].
The QZE is a paradigm and test bed for quantum measurement theory[12,13]. In one interpretation, it involves
many sequential collapses of the wave functions of thesystem. Quantum Zeno experiments provide constraints
for speculative extensions of quantum mechanics where
the collapse of the wave function is created by extra terms
in a modiﬁed Schrödinger equation [14]. It is still an open
question how close one can approach the limit of an inﬁnite
number of interrogations due to the Heisenberg uncertainty
involved in shorter measurement times. These conceptional questions provide the motivation to extend experimental tests of the quantum Zeno phenomenon. A major
improvement to a quantum Zeno experiment with ultracold
neutrons [15] is in preparation.
In this Letter we compare the suppression of the transition rate in an oscillating two-level system by continuousand pulsed measurements. Our QZE experiments werecarried out with Bose-Einstein condensed atoms [16,17].
The long coherence time and the high degree of control ofthe position and momentum of the atoms created a very
clean system and allowed us to observe much stronger
quantum Zeno suppression than before [2,5,7]. In theexperiment with pulsed measurements, up to 500 measurements could be carried out and survival probabilities exceeded 98%. Furthermore, we have performed the ﬁrst
0031-9007=06=97(26)=260402(4)quantitative comparison between the pulsed and continuous measurement QZE. This is important since any real
pulsed measurement is only an approximation based on aseries of weak continuous measurements [18,19].
Let us consider a two-level system which is externallydriven at a Rabi frequency !R . Measurements of the stateof the system project the system into one of the two states
j1i, j2i. If the initial state of the system is in j1i and ameasurement is made after short time t (  1=!R ), thenthe probability that the system is in j1i is 1  !R t=22 .
With N successive measurements the probability that thesystem remains in j1i isPN  1  !R t=22 N  expN!R t=22  exp!2R t=4T(1)

with T  Nt the total free evolution time. Instead ofnormal Rabi-type oscillation between two states, the initialstate j1i decays with an effective decay rate 1=EP [20].
1=EP is given by
1=EP  !2R t=4:(2)

The characteristic time EP for the pulsed QZE is much
longer than the characteristic time 1=!R of normal Rabitype oscillation . This shows the suppression of transitionby the QZE.
For a continuous measurement, the atoms are continuously illuminated with laser light resonant with the transition energy between state j2i and another excited state. If
atoms are in state j2i, they spontaneously emit a photon at a
rate . Because of the photon recoil, those atoms are
removed from the coherently driven two-level system.
The population of state j1i decays with the effective decayrate 1=EC which is given by the optical Bloch equations as

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1=EC  !2R =:(3)© 2006 The American Physical Society

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERSPRL 97, 260402 (2006)

In contrast, for measurements with randomly spaced
pulses, the effective decay rate is 1=EP !2R ht2 i=4hti. If the probability for measurement pulse
during a time interval t is t, ht2 i  2=2 and hti 
1=. The effective decay rate for this case is
1=EP;random  !2R =2:(4)

Energy|2,+1〉|2,0〉|1,-1〉|2,+1〉 Population

(b)

(a)

1.0

|1,-1〉 Population

Although the continuous beam leads to the same emission
rate  of state j2i as a random pulse measurement case, thewave function evolution from j1i to j2i is faster in thecontinuous measurement case than in random pulse
measurement case. The decay rate for continuous measurements EC [Eq. (3)] is twice the value of EP;random[Eq. (4)].
In our study we have determined the lifetimes EP , EC
with each type of measurement and used them to verify theprediction of Eq. (2) and (3) that pulsed measurementswith time interval t produce the same suppression of
decay as continuous measurements with a scattering rate when t  4 [20]. In particular, by verifying Eq. (3),we show that the continuous measurement process cannot
be simulated by a series of random pulses with a rate .
Our experimental system consisted of magneticallytrapped 87 Rb Bose-Einstein condensate in the
5S1=2 j1; 1ijF; mF i and 5S1=2 j2; 1i states [21]. Purecondensates of Nc  5:00:5  104 atoms in the j1; 1istate were prepared in a f63; 63; 6:6g Hz magnetic trap.
Coherent oscillations between state j1ij1; 1i and statej2ij2; 1i were then driven at a rate !R by a two-photontransition (Fig. 1). The j1; 1i and j2; 1i states wereselected because they have the same 1st order Zeeman
shift at a magnetic ﬁeld of 3.23 G [22].
Measurements of the population in state j2ij2; 1i
were performed by a laser beam of 780 nm  polarized

1.0

0.5
0.0
0

16
8
Time (ms)24168Time (ms)

24

0.5
0.0

0

FIG. 1. Two-level Rabi oscillation. The two-level quantum
system consisted of the j1; 1i and j2; 1i ground hyperﬁnestates of 87 Rb. (a) Energy level diagram for relevant 87 Rb ground
hyperﬁne states. Arrows depict the components of the twophoton transition between the j1; 1i and j2; 1i states.
6.8 GHz microwaves couple the j1; 1i to a virtual intermediate
state detuned 420 kHz above resonance with j2; 0i. Radio
frequency (rf) at 1.68 MHz resonantly completed the transition
to the j2; 1i state. (b) Driven population of the j1; 1i andj2; 1i states as a function of time. Curves are ﬁts to a twophoton transition rate of !R =2  61:50:5 Hz. No population
was detected in j2; 0i.

week ending
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light resonant with the 5S1=2 j2; 1i ! 5P3=2 j3; 1i transition. The 362 nK energy from a single photon recoil
distinguished scattered atoms from the subrecoil  
15 nK energy range of the condensate atoms. Successive
scatterings would eject measured atoms from the trap.
After each QZE experiment was completed the magnetic
trap was turned off and the population of surviving atoms
in each state was measured. To simultaneously measure the
j1i and j2i populations we used an rf pulse and magnetic
ﬁeld sweep to transfer the atoms to other magnetic sublevels. Parameters were chosen in such a way that each
initial state was partially transferred to a sublevel with adifferent magnetic moment. After Stern-Gerlach separation and 41 ms of ballistic expansion, the atoms wereimaged and the populations in the two initial states could
be read out simultaneously.
We quantiﬁed the QZE induced by repeated pulsed
measurements. Optical measurement pulses of 172 W(s0  0:15, where s0  I=Isat is the transition saturation
parameter) and tp  10 s in duration were applied to thedriven two-level system. Each pulse scattered 29 photons
per atom and were separated by a free evolution time t.
The lifetime EP for a particular measurement rate 1=t[23] was determined by ﬁtting the j1i atom lifetime to an
exponential decay curve over a range of times * 2EP .
Figure 2(a) shows the dramatic increase in the observed
lifetimes (solid symbols) as the measurement rate 1=t wasincreased. The measured lifetimes for two different !R[boxes for 2  54:60:5 Hz, triangles for 2 
24:70:1 Hz] are plotted along with their expected values(lower and upper lines, respectively). The measured lifetimes were not found to be strongly sensitive to variationsin optical power, pulse width, or laser detuning. The lifetime enhanced by QZE can be compared to 1=!R , which
would be the characteristic time without pulsed measurements. The longest lifetime was 19816  1=!R at
1=t  25 ms1 .
Previous works [2,7,24] express the QZE in terms of thesurvival probability PN for number of measurements N
during a  pulse (t  =!R ), a duration where without
measurements 100% of the atoms would be transferred into
the other state. Figure 2(b) displays our results in this way.
In these terms the greatest Zeno effect is for N  5062
measurements with a survival probability P  0:9841.
The most frequent measurements [farthest right solid
symbols in Fig. 2(a)] show signiﬁcant deviation from expected lifetimes (lines). For a high measurement rate 1=t,
the pulse duration tp is not negligible compared to freeevolution time t between the pulses, and the process that
occurs while the measurement pulse is on becomes more
important. In our experiment the pulse duration tp 
10 s was 20% of the shortest time interval t  40 s.
In such cases the measured lifetime depends not only on
the time interval t but also on the pulse duration tp .
During the time interval, t the population in state j1i
transfers (‘‘decays’’) to state j2i with EP . During the pulse

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PRL 97, 260402 (2006)

tp
1
t
1

 m
;
EP tp  ttp  t


(a)

(5)

1000

10
0.3

1
3
10
Measurement Rate 1/δ t (ms-1 )

30

10
30
100
300
Number of Measurements N

1000

(b)
1.
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
3

FIG. 2. Pulsed quantum Zeno effect. Increase in the lifetime(a) and the survival probability (b) of atoms in the initial j1i stateas the measurement rate 1=t is increased. Solid lines indicate
the prediction for the pulsed QZE. Boxes (triangles) are data
points for a transition rate !R =2  54:60:5 24:70:1 Hz.
(a) Observed lifetimes (solid line) for j1i atoms measured with atime interval t between measurement pulses. Lines indicate theexpected QZE lifetime EP  4=!2R t. Open symbols show
lifetimes after correction for additional loss mechanism by
Eq. (5). (b) The same data are displayed in terms of the survival
probability for N measurements performed during a  pulse timet  =!R (the time it would take to transfer 100% of the atoms
from j1i to j2i without measurements). The solid line is the 2N

for N ideal
expected survival probability PN  cos2N
measurements.

duration tp , state j1i can decay by different loss mechanisms. We made a separate measurement of this additional
loss. The system was prepared in the same way exceptthat the measurement pulse laser was kept on continuously.
The lifetime 1=m of this system was measured and m
was 3:410:14 s1 for !R =2  54:6 Hz [m 
2:960:22 s1 for !R =2  24:7 Hz]. In order to ﬁnd
the origin of this additional loss, the measurements oflifetimes were made with removal of either the rf or the
microwave component of the two-photon drive. The lifetime showed no change when the rf component was removed, but the lifetime increased by an order of magnitude
without microwave component. This suggests that the loss
occurring during pulse duration tp is dominated by thevirtual intermediate state j2; 0i, which can be excited by
the measurement laser to the excited state 5P3=2 j3; 0i.
To obtain the correct decay rate 1=EP for the pulsed
QZE from our measurement this additional loss should becorrected. The observed decay rate 1= is split into two
components and can be written as

where tp is pulse duration. Data points in Fig. 2(a) where
this correction had a signiﬁcant impact on the lifetime areindicated by open symbols. The predicted lifetime isEP  4=!2R t, slightly larger than the measured EP 
0:8360:014  4=!2R t. The discrepancy is possibly due
to collisions between recoiling atoms and the remaining
condensate leading to additional loss.
The same initial system was subjected to a weak continuous measurement instead of repeated strong measurements. Figure 3 shows the increase in lifetime withincreasing measurement laser power. While showing thisqualitative relationship is straightforward, several issues
complicate a quantitative measurement of the continuous
QZE. If the measurement laser is detuned from the opticalresonance it will have a reduced scattering rate and also
induce an ac Stark shift rf in the resonance between j1i
and j2i, reducing the transfer rate from j1i to j2i. In
addition, imperfections in the beam can affect the intensity
at the atoms. These issues are not important for the pulsed
measurement as long as atoms scatter multiple photons.
However, they are critical to properly characterizing the
weak continuous measurement experiment.
We were able to address all of these issues simultaneously by measuring the ac Stark shift at several different
laser detunings. For each laser detuning (L ) and opticalpower (s0 ) we determined the ac Stark shift rf by maximizing the reduction of atoms in state j1i as a function ofrf frequency. Measurements of continuous QZE lifetime
EC [Eq. (3)] were then made varying saturation parameters0 and detuning L of the measurement laser. Equation (3)can then be rewritten as
Saturation s0
4.8x10 - 3
9.6x10 - 3

014.4x10 - 3

1000
200

Lifetime τEC ms

100

Lifetime τ EC (ms)Lifetime τ (ms)

10000

Survival Probability P(N)week ending
31 DECEMBER 2006

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

100

750

500

0

0

1
2
Optical Power (µW)

3

250

0
0

4
8
Optical Power (µW)

12

FIG. 3. Continuous quantum Zeno effect. Lifetime dependence
on optical power with !R =2  48:50:9 Hz for laser detuningL  0 MHz (䊏) and L  5:4 MHz (䉱). Gray bands indicates range of expected lifetimes which are calculated frommeasurements of ac Stark shift for L  0 MHz (upper) andL  5:4 MHz (lower). Inset highlights data from lower optical powers. The saturation parameter s0 has an uncertainty of
17%.

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PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

300

week ending
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which is a function of s0 and L with 87 Rb D2 transition
decay rate . Figure 4 veriﬁes Eq. (6) for various detunings
L . Figure 3 shows increasing lifetime with increasing
measurement laser power, the signature of the continuous
QZE. Similar to the longest lifetime point in the pulsed
QZE data [upper right solid triangle, Fig. 2(a)], the data
point with highest power in Fig. 3 shows signiﬁcant deviation from the lifetime expected from Eq. (6). By matching
the observed lifetimes for pulsed and continuous QZE
measurements we ﬁnd that each measurement type has
the same QZE when t  3:600:43, which is in agreement with the predicted ratio of 4 [20] but rules out
randomly repeated pulse case in Eq. (4). Equation (4) gives
the ratio of 2 instead of 4. The observed large quantum
Zeno suppression dramatically illustrates the modiﬁcationof a wave function by a null measurement, i.e., the observation that no light has been scattered [25]. The large
fraction of atoms in the initial statej1i is caused by repeatedmeasurements without scattering any photons.
We have extended previous work in pulsed QZE measurements [2,5,7] by exploiting advantages inherent toBose-Einstein condensates. While in theory the Heisenberg uncertainty principal limits how frequently meaningful measurements can be performed, in practice imperfections in real measurements are the limiting factors [24,26].
In ion experiments optical pumping between states during
the measurement pulses changed the observed populationtransfer [2], requiring signiﬁcant corrections for the N 
32 and N  64 pulse measurements (Table I in [2] ) to
observe a maximum survival probability P64 
0:94320 [2] [EP  5430  1=!R ]. Previous demonstrations of the continuous QZE [3,4,6] observed qualitative but not quantitatively characterized QZE suppression
effects up to 80% [4] with increasing laser intensity. Our
observed quantum Zeno suppressions are substantiallylarger then both previous pulsed [2] and continuous [4][1] B. Misra and E. C. G. Sudarshan, J. Math. Phys. Sci. 18,756 (1977).
[2] W. M. Itano, D. J. Heinzen, J. J. Bollinger, and D. J.
Wineland, Phys. Rev. A 41, 2295 (1990).
[3] B. Nagels, L. J. F. Hermans, and P. L. Chapovsky, Phys.
Rev. Lett. 79, 3097 (1997).
[4] K. Mølhave and M. Drewsen, Phys. Lett. A 268, 45(2000).
[5] M. C. Fischer, B. Gutiérrez-Medina, and M. G. Raizen,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 040402 (2001).
[6] T. Nakanishi, K. Yamane, and M. Kitano, Phys. Rev. A 65,
013404 (2001).
[7] C. Balzer et al., Opt. Commun. 211, 235 (2002).
[8] O. Hosten et al., Nature (London) 439, 949 (2006).
[9] J. D. Franson, B. C. Jacobs, and T. B. Pittman, Phys. Rev.
A 70, 062302 (2004).
[10] P. Facchi et al., Phys. Rev. A 71, 022302 (2005).
[11] P. Facchi et al., Phys. Rev. A 66, 012110 (2002).
[12] K. Koshino and A. Shimizu, Phys. Rep. 412, 191 (2005).
[13] D. Home and M. A. B. Whitaker, Ann. Phys. (N.Y.) 258,
237 (1997).
[14] S. L. Adler, Phys. Rev. D 67, 025007 (2003).
[15] M. R. Jaekel, E. Jericha, and H. Rauch, Nucl. Instrum.
Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 539, 335 (2005).
[16] M. H. Anderson et al., Science 269, 198 (1995).
[17] K. B. Davis et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 3969 (1995).
[18] T. A. Burn, Am. J. Phys. 70, 719 (2002).
[19] C. M. Caves and G. J. Milburn, Phys. Rev. A 36, 5543
(1987).
[20] L. Schulman, Phys. Rev. A 57, 1509 (1998).
[21] E. W. Streed et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 77, 023106 (2006).
[22] D. M. Harber, H. J. Lewandowski, J. M. McGuirk, andE. A. Cornell, Phys. Rev. A 66, 053616 (2002).
[23] Including short pulse duration tp , the pulse repetition ratein the experiment was 1=t  tp .
[24] P. Facchi et al., Phys. Rev. A 68, 012107 (2003).
[25] R. H. Dicke, Am. J. Phys. 49, 925 (1981).
[26] H. Rauch, Physica (Amsterdam) 297B, 299 (2001).

Lifetime τ EC (ms)(6)

results, and is also greater then that expected from proposed experiments [11,15,24,26] in neutrons.
In conclusion, we have used a Bose-Einstein condensate
to demonstrate the QZE for both continuous and pulsed
measurements. Lifetimes for both cases were substantiallyenhanced by QZE to values close to 200  1=!R . Pulsedand continuous QZE were quantiﬁed and compared. We
observe that the continuous measurements exhibit the same
suppression in the transition rate as the pulsed measurements when t  3:600:43, which agrees with the predicted value of 4 [20] and rules out a simple model when acontinuous measurement is replaced by a series of random
pulses. A next generation experiment could demonstrateeven stronger quantum Zeno suppression and study thetransition from pulsed to continuous QZE by using pulse
duration and intervals approaching the spontaneous emission time.
The authors thank Helmut Rauch for insightful discussion. This work was supported by NSF.

200

100

0
- 20

- 10
0
10
Laser Detuning δ L (MHz)20

FIG. 4. Continuous quantum Zeno lifetime as a function of themeasurement laser detuning L . Gray band indicates range of
expected lifetimes [Eq. (6)] from separately measured ac Stark
shift parameters. The predicted linewidth is slightly Zeeman
broadened by imperfections in the polarization. Data are for
3:5 W laser power, !R  45:51:0 Hz.

EC 




s0
1

!2R 2!2R 1  4L 2260402-4

160

Appendix G
Photon Recoil Momentum in
Dispersive MediaThis appendix contains a reprint of Ref. [119]:Gretchen K. Campbell, Aaron E.
Leanhardt, Jongchul Mun, Micah Boyd, Erik W. Streed,Wolfgang Ketterle, andDavid E. Pritchard, Photon Recoil Momentum in Dispersive Media, Physical Review
Letters 94, 170403 (2005).

161

PRL 94, 170403 (2005)

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PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Photon Recoil Momentum in Dispersive Media
Gretchen K. Campbell, Aaron E. Leanhardt,* Jongchul Mun, Micah Boyd, Erik W. Streed,
Wolfgang Ketterle, and David E. Pritchard†
MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms, Research Laboratory of Electronics and Department of Physics,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA(Received 31 January 2005; published 4 May 2005)
A systematic shift of the photon recoil momentum due to the index of refraction of a dilute gas of atoms
has been observed. The recoil frequency was determined with a two-pulse light grating interferometerusing near-resonant laser light. The results show that the recoil momentum of atoms caused by theabsorption of a photon is nhk,
 where n is the index of refraction of the gas and k is the vacuum wave vectorof the photon. This systematic effect must be accounted for in high-precision atom interferometry withlight gratings.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.170403

PACS numbers: 03.75.Dg, 39.20.+q, 42.50.Ct

The momentum of a photon in a dispersive medium is ofconceptual and practical importance [1–6]. When lightenters a medium with an index of refraction n, the electromagnetic momentum is modiﬁed [3–5]. Momentum
conservation requires then that the medium also has amechanical momentum. When a pulse of light enters themedium, the particles in the medium are accelerated by theleading edge of the pulse and decelerated by the trailingedge [5]. As a result, no motion is left in the medium after
the pulse has passed. When light is absorbed or reﬂected in
the medium, the momentum transfer occurs in units of hk
or nhk, where k is the vacuum wave vector. An absorbing
surface is equivalent to photons leaving the medium without reﬂection and would therefore receive a momentum ofhk per incident photon. In contrast, as shown in Ref. [5], areﬂecting surface within the medium will recoil with amomentum of 2nhk
 per photon. In this case, the standing
wave formed by the incident and reﬂected light pulse
transfers momentum to the medium which remains evenafter the light pulse has left. This modiﬁcation of the recoil
momentum has so far been observed only for light being
reﬂected from a mirror immersed in a liquid [7,8].
Recently, there have been discussions about what happens when an atom within an atomic cloud absorbs aphoton. If one assumes that after absorbing the photon,
no motion is left in the medium, then the recoil momentum
should be hk
 [9]. The same conclusion is reached when one
assumes a very dilute, dispersive medium with the absorbing atom localized in the vacuum space between the particles of the medium [10]. However, Ref. [6] argues that theatom will recoil with a momentum of nhk,
 which requires
particles in the medium to receive a backward momentum(for n > 1) due to the interaction of the oscillating dipole
moments of the particles in the dispersive medium and theabsorbing atom. So both for reﬂection by a mirror andabsorption by an atom, a photon in a dispersive medium
behaves as if it has a momentum of nhk.
In this Letter, we examine this issue experimentally,
showing that the atom recoils with momentum nhk.
 This0031-9007=05=94(17)=170403(4)$23.00

has important consequences for atom interferometers using
optical waves to manipulate atoms by the transfer of recoil
momentum. High-precision measurements of the photon
recoil are used to determine the ﬁne-structure constant [11–16]. Further improvements in the accuracy of photon
recoil measurements, combined with the value of  derived
from the (g  2) measurements for the electron and positron [17–19], would provide a fundamental test of QED. At
low atomic densities, where atom interferometers usuallyoperate, the index of the refraction effect is relatively
small. However, the accuracy of the best photon recoil
measurements is limited by the uncertainty in the correction to the photon recoil due to the index of refraction. Herewe operate an atom interferometer with Bose-Einstein

+2nhk

0nhk

B

-2nhk
E
τ

Release from Trap
Image in TOF

600 µs
5 µs

5 µs

FIG. 1. Kapitza-Dirac interferometer. The ﬁrst pulse outcoupled a small fraction of atoms into the j  2nhki momentum
states. The outcoupled atoms moved within the initial condensate. After a variable delay , a second pulse was applied, andatoms outcoupled by the second pulse interfered with thoseoutcoupled by the ﬁrst pulse. The laser beam was applied
perpendicular to the long axis of the condensate; the polariza~ was parallel to it and to the applied magnetic ﬁeld bias,
tion, E,~
B. The atoms were imaged after 38 ms of ballistic expansion.
The ﬁeld of view is 0:5 mm  1:5 mm.

170403-1© 2005 The American Physical Society

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PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

condensates, which have a much higher density than laser
cooled atomic clouds, and observe how the index of re2 2
fraction modiﬁes the atomic recoil frequency h!
 rec  h2mk ,where m is the atomic mass.
The essential idea of our experiment is to measure therecoil frequency interferometrically using a two-pulse
Ramsey interferometer. The two pulses are optical standing waves separated by a delay time  (Fig. 1). The ﬁrst
pulse diffracts the atoms in a 87 Rb condensate into discrete
momentum states. During the delay time  the phase ofeach momentum state evolves at a different rate according
to its recoil energy. The second pulse recombines the atoms
with the initial condensate. The recombined components
have differing phases leading to interference fringes that
oscillate at the two-photon recoil frequency. By measuring
the resulting frequency, ! as a function of the standing
wave detuning from the atomic resonance, we found a
distinctive dispersive shape for ! that ﬁts the recoil momentum as nhk.
The experiment was performed using an elongated 87 Rb
Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) created in a cloverleaftype Ioffe-Pritchard magnetic trap previously described inRef. [20]. The condensate, containing 1:5  106 atoms,
was produced in the j5 2 S1=2 ; F  1; mF  1i state, andhad a Thomas-Fermi radius of 8 (90) m in the radial(axial) direction, and the magnetic trap had a radial (axial)
trap frequency of 81 (7) Hz.
The BEC was illuminated with an optical standing wave
created by a retroreﬂected, -polarized laser beam. Losses
in the retroreﬂected beam were negligible. The polarization of the beam was optimized by suppressing Rayleighsuperradiance [20]. The laser was detuned from the
5 2 S1=2 ; F  1 ! 5 2 P3=2 ; F  1 transition at  
780 nm, and had a linewidth  much smaller than , thenatural linewidth of the transition. The intensity of the 5 slong pulse was set to outcouple  5% of the atoms into
each of the j  2nhki momentum states with no appreciable population in higher momentum states. This ensured
that the density of the original condensate was nearly
constant throughout the measurement. After a variable
time , a second identical pulse was applied. The time
between the ﬁrst pulse and the shutoff of the magnetic trap
was ﬁxed at 600 s, which was less than a quarter of theradial trap period. The momentum distribution of the condensate was imaged after 38 ms of ballistic expansion, longenough for the momentum states to be resolved. The
images were obtained using resonant absorption imaging
after ﬁrst optically pumping the atoms to the 5 2 S1=2 ; F  2state. To measure the effect of spontaneous light scatteringfrom the standing wave, the density of the condensate (andassociated mean-ﬁeld shift) was determined after applying
a single 5 s pulse to the condensate, and then immediately releasing it from the magnetic trap. The number ofatoms in the condensate was determined by integrating theoptical density of the absorption image, which in turn wascalibrated by ﬁtting the Thomas-Fermi radius of unperturbed condensates in time of ﬂight [21].
The recoil frequency was found by ﬁtting the oscillations in the fraction of atoms in the j0nhki
 momentum state
as a function of the delay  (Fig. 2) with a cosine function
and a Gaussian envelope:
2
A exp  2 cos!    C:(1)
c
The observation of up to ten oscillations provided a precise
value of the recoil frequency. The origin of the damping
time c and of the offset C will be discussed later.
Figure 3 shows our measured values for !=2 as afunction of the detuning, =2. The measured values forthe frequency clearly follow the dispersive shape of theindex of refraction. The variation in !=2 as a function of
the detuning was 2 kHz across the resonance, much larger
than the statistical error on the frequency ﬁts of less than
100 Hz. This conclusively shows that the momentum transferred to the atom when a photon is absorbed is nhk.

We now discuss in more detail how the atoms interact
with optical standing waves. For the short duration of theapplied pulses (5 s) we can assume that the atoms do not
move during the pulse and ignore the kinetic energy of theatoms (Raman-Nath approximation). The interaction canthen be described by the application of the ac Stark potenh!
 2tial due to the standing wave Vz  R sin2 nkz, where
10 µs

(a)

20 µs

30 µs

40 µs

50 µs

(b)
0.90

Fraction in 0nhk

PRL 94, 170403 (2005)

0.80

0.70
0

200

τ (µs)

400

600

FIG. 2. Interference fringes oscillating at the recoil frequency.
(a) Absorption images for   10–50 s. The detuning was
=2  520 MHz. The ﬁeld of view is 0:5 mm  1:5 mm.
(b) Fraction of atoms in the j0hki
 momentum state as a functionof . The fringes were ﬁt using Eq. (1). The ﬁtted frequency was!  2  15 62739 Hz with decay constant c 
46125 s. The signal was normalized using the total atom
number in all momentum states. The systematic scatter of thedata from the ﬁt indicates the reproducibility of the single shotmeasurements.

170403-2

Recoil Frequency [kHz]17.0

0  J04 

16.5

16.0

15.5

15.0

14.5
-1000

-500

week ending
6 MAY 2005

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERSPRL 94, 170403 (2005)

0+500
Detuning ∆/2π [MHz]+1000

FIG. 3. Recoil frequency as a function of detuning, =2,showing the dispersive effect of the index of refraction. The
average density of the condensate for the solid points was
1:144 1014 cm 3 , giving rise to a mean-ﬁeld shift of
880 Hz. The shaded area gives the expected recoil frequency
including the uncertainty in the density. The dashed line is at the expected value without index of refrac!  4!rec U=h,tion effects. The dotted line is at 4!rec  15 068 Hz, the twophoton vacuum recoil frequency. The data shown as open diamonds had increased spontaneous light scattering due to 
light contamination in the laser beam. The increased lightscattering led to a lower initial density in the condensate, thus
leading to a smaller mean-ﬁeld shift. The  contamination
allowed mF  1 transitions, thus for small detunings theproximity to the j1; 1i ! j00 ; 0i transition located at =2 
72 MHz resulted in higher spontaneous scattering rates. The
open points have been scaled upward to correct for this lower
density.

 is the detuning between the optical frequency and theatomic transition, and !R is the Rabi frequency. Thisequation is valid for large detuning, 2  2 =4. The shortpulse limit, describing Kapitza-Dirac scattering, is valid
for short interaction times tp  1=!rec  40 s. The ﬁrst
pulse outcouples a fraction of atoms into the momentum
states j  2‘nhki, where the population in the ‘th momentum state is given by P‘  J‘2  [22,23], where for a!2R tp, and J‘ is the ‘th-order Besselsquare pulse,   2function of the ﬁrst kind. For  < 1 a negligible fractionof atoms is diffracted into states with ‘ > 1, and we canrestrict our discussion to the j  2nhki states. For our
experimental parameters   0:45. During the delay time the phase of the j  2nhki states evolves at a faster rate
than the j0nhki
 state due to the recoil energy, Erec 
4n2 h!
 rec ; hence, the wave function evolves as2

i4n !rec j i  j o iJ1 j  2nhkie

J0 j0nhki :(2)

At t   a second pulse is applied that partially recombines
the momentum states. After applying the two pulses, theprobability of ﬁnding the atoms in the j0nhki
 state, 0 
2
, is given byjh  tp j0nhkij

4J02 J12 

J14  cos4n2 !rec : (3)As a function of  the density of the zero momentum peakoscillates at 4n2 !rec .
So far, we have ignored the motion of the atoms during
the delay time . The amplitudes of the recombined components interfere only where they spatially overlap. Afterthe ﬁrst pulse, the atoms in the j  2nhki states move withthe recoil velocity (vrec 12 m=ms). As the overlap
between the recoiling atoms and those at rest decreases,
the interference fringes decay. The overlap integral for thisdecay is approximated as a Gaussian with time constant,c  0:75RTF =vrec , where RTF is the Thomas-Fermi radiusof the condensate [24].
The index of refraction for the condensate is derived
from its macroscopic polarization P. For a two level sys2tem, P  o E  i h  Ei , where  is the atomic susceptibility, o is the permittivity of free space,  is the
dipole matrix element,  is the atomic density of thecondensate. In this experiment the light was  polarized
and detuned by  from the 5 2 S1=2 ; F  1 ! 5 2 P3=2 ; F0 
1 transition. For this polarization the selection rule ismF  0, and there are two allowed transitions from jF 
1; mF  1i ! j10 ; 1i and j1; 1i ! j20 ; 1i that are
separated by 157 MHz. Including both ptransitions in thederivation, the index of refraction, n  1 , is givenby
v


u
u
5

1
1

1
1
2
n  t1 123;
12  1 2 1 2 4  1 2 2 2(4)
where 1 and 2 are the detunings relative to the F  1 !
F0  1 and F0  2 transitions, respectively. This equation
is valid in the limit 3  1 [25], where   =2. For
our experimental parameters 3  0:2. In addition to theindex of refraction shift, the observed recoil frequency hasa mean-ﬁeld shift [26]; the atoms in the j  2nhki statehave twice the mean-ﬁeld energy of those at rest due to theexchange term in the interatomic potential. Including boththe mean-ﬁeld shift and the index of refraction, the frequency of the observed interference fringes should be!  4n2 !rec

U
;
h

(5)

where U  4h 2 a=m, and a is the s-wave scattering
length. The density   4=7o , where o is the peakcondensate density and the factor of 4=7 is due to theinhomogeneous condensate density.
When the interference fringes were ﬁt using Eq. (1), theaverage values for the amplitude A and offset C for all of
the data points were 0.12(3) and 0.82(4), respectively. This
is in reasonable agreement with the expected values of A 
0:18 and C  0:81 for   0:45. For a Thomas-Fermi
radius of 8 m we would expect a decay time c 
500 s. There was an unexplained shift in the ﬁtted value

170403-3

PRL 94, 170403 (2005)

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERSfor c between the red and blue side of the resonances: on
the red side the average value was 34720 s and on theblue, 45540 s.
The quadratic dependence in Eq. (5) on the index ofrefraction can be understood by considering the diffractionof atoms from the light grating created by the standing
wave. When the ﬁrst pulse is applied, the standing wave
creates a grating with a periodicity d  =2. Within thecondensate the index of refraction modiﬁes the grating
period by n, since 0  =n. The momentum of atoms
that diffract off the grating is changed by 2hk
 0 , again0
within the condensate k  nk, and the velocity of theatoms is modiﬁed. Assuming n > 1, when the second
grating is applied the atoms have moved farther by a factorof n and the grating is shorter by n, changing the time scale
for the interference fringes by a factor of n2 .
The increase in the momentum transferred to the atoms
can also be explained by considering the momentum transferred to atoms by a classical ﬁeld. A derivation using theLorentz force applied to the atoms during the absorption ofa photon can be found in [6]. In a dielectric medium withn > 1, the magnetic ﬁeld and therefore the Lorentz force
are not modiﬁed. However, the electric ﬁeld is weaker, andtherefore it takes longer for the atom to perform half a Rabi
cycle and be transferred to the excited state. During that
longer time, the Lorentz force imparts a momentum to theatom which is larger than hk.

For Kapitza-Dirac scattering, atoms are diffracted symmetrically into the j  2‘nhki momentum states, so momentum is clearly conserved. However, for processes suchas Bragg scattering, where the atoms are scattered in only
one direction, the index of refraction has an additional
effect. Assuming a =2 pulse with counterpropagating
beams, where half the atoms are diffracted, for n > 1 therecoil momentum is a factor of n higher than in vacuum.
For momentum to be conserved, the remaining atoms mustrecoil backwards with momentum p  2n  1‘hk.
 Forsmall fractional outcoupling the effect is negligible, since
the extra momentum is distributed among the remaining
condensate. However, if a large fraction of the condensate
is outcoupled and ‘ is large, this effect could potentially beresolved in ballistic expansion.
We have discussed here the dispersive effect on thephoton momentum near a one-photon resonance. An analogous effect occurs near two-photon resonances. In thiscase, the atomic polarizability is determined in third-order
perturbation theory, and the resulting index of refraction
has a sharp, narrow dispersive feature near the two-photon
resonance [27]. In recent experiments at Stanford [13],such two-photon effects have been the leading source of
uncertainty in high-precision determinations of atomic
recoil frequencies and the ﬁne-structure constant .
In conclusion, we have measured a systematic shift in
the photon recoil frequency due to the index of refractionof the condensate. This is the ﬁrst direct observation of theweek ending
6 MAY 2005

atomic recoil momentum in dispersive media. For highatomic densities, this shift can have a signiﬁcant effecton atom interferometers, and is of particular importancefor precision measurements of h=m and  with cold atoms[13,16].
The authors thank A. Schirotzek, S. Chu, S. Harris, and
H. Haus for insightful discussions, and M. Kellogg forexperimental assistance. This work was supported by
NSF and ARO.

*Present address: JILA, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
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