Phase coherence and superfluid-insulator transition in a disordered Bose-Einstein condensate
Yong P. ChenDepartment of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, USAJ. HitchcockDepartment of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, USAD. DriesDepartment of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, USAM. JunkerDepartment of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, USAC. WelfordDepartment of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, USARandall G. HuletDepartment of Physics and Astronomy and Rice Quantum Institute, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, USA
2008en
ABI
Abstract
We have studied the effects of a disordered optical potential on the transport and phase coherence of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of $^{7}\text{L}\text{i}$ atoms. At moderate disorder strengths $({V}_{D})$, we observe inhibited transport and damping of dipole excitations, while in time-of-flight images, random but reproducible interference patterns are observed. In situ images reveal that the appearance of interference is correlated with density modulation, without complete fragmentation. At higher ${V}_{D}$, the interference contrast diminishes as the BEC fragments into multiple pieces with little phase coherence.
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