Abstract

We study the dynamics of interacting superfluid bosons in a one-dimensional vertical optical lattice after a sudden increase of the lattice potential depth. We show that this system can be exploited to investigate the effects of strong interactions on Bloch oscillations. We perform theoretical modeling of this system, identify experimental challenges, and explore a regime of Bloch oscillations characterized by interaction-induced matter-wave collapse and revivals which modify the Bloch oscillations dynamics. In addition, we study three dephasing mechanisms: finite value of tunneling, effective three-body interactions, and a background harmonic potential. We also find that the center-of-mass motion in the presence of finite tunneling goes through collapse and revivals, giving an example of quantum transport where interaction-induced revivals are important. We quantify the effects of residual harmonic trapping on the momentum distribution dynamics and show the occurrence of an interaction-modified temporal Talbot effect. Finally, we analyze the prospects and challenges of exploiting Bloch oscillations of cold atoms in the strongly interacting regime for precision measurement of the gravitational acceleration g.

Publication Details
Publication Type
Journal Article
Year of Publication
2014
Volume
89
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevA.89.023606
Journal
Physical Review A
Contributors