Twisted complex superfluids in optical lattices.
We show that correlated pair tunneling drives a phase transition to a twisted superfluid with a complex order parameter. This unconventional superfluid phase spontaneously breaks the time-reversal symmetry and is characterized by a twisting of the complex phase angle between adjacent lattice sites. We discuss the entire phase diagram of the extended Bose-Hubbard model for a honeycomb optical lattice showing a multitude of quantum phases including twisted superfluids, pair superfluids, supersolids and twisted supersolids. Furthermore, we show that the nearest-neighbor interactions lead to a spontaneous breaking of the inversion symmetry of the lattice and give rise to dimerized density-wave insulators, where particles are delocalized on dimers. For two components, we find twisted superfluid phases with strong correlations between the species already for surprisingly small pair-tunneling amplitudes. Interestingly, this ground state shows an infinite degeneracy ranging continuously from a supersolid to a twisted superfluid.
Institut fϋr Laser-Physik, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
Ole
O
Jürgensen
Institut fϋr Laser-Physik, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
Klaus
K
Sengstock
Institut fϋr Laser-Physik, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
Dirk-Sören
DS
Lühmann