Ultracold atoms in one-dimensional optical lattices approaching the Tonks-Girardeau regime.
Recent experiments on ultracold atomic alkali gases in a one-dimensional optical lattice have demonstrated the transition from a gas of soft-core bosons to a Tonks-Girardeau gas in the hard-core limit, where one-dimensional bosons behave like fermions in many respects. We have studied the underlying many-body physics through numerical simulations which accommodate both the soft-core and hard-core limits in one single framework. We find that the Tonks-Girardeau gas is reached only at the strongest optical lattice potentials. Results for slightly higher densities, where the gas develops a Mott-like phase already at weaker optical lattice potentials, show that these Mott-like short-range correlations do not enhance the convergence to the hard-core limit.
Pollet
L
L
Vakgroep Subatomaire en Stralingsfysica, Universiteit Gent, Proeftuinstraat 86, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
Rombouts
S M A
SM
Denteneer
P J H
PJ