Session V3: Correlated Phases in Fermi Gases of Ultracold Atoms
8:00 AM–11:00 AM, Thursday, March 19, 2009
Room: 301/302
Sponsoring Units:
DCMP DAMOP
Abstract ID: BAPS.2009.MAR.V3.1
Abstract: V3.00001 : A Mott insulator of fermionic atoms in an optical lattice
8:00 AM–8:36 AM
Preview Abstract
MathJax On | Off Abstract 
Author:
Henning Moritz
(ETH Zurich)
In a solid material strong interactions between the electrons can lead to surprising properties. A prime example is the Mott insulator, where the suppression of conductivity is a result of interactions and not the consequence of a filled Bloch band. The proximity to the Mott insulating phase in fermionic systems is the origin for many intriguing phenomena in condensed matter physics, most notably high-temperature superconductivity. Compared to real materials, a fermionic quantum gas trapped in an optical lattice offers a very pure realisation of the Hubbard model, giving a new approach to understand the physics of strongly correlated systems. We report on the formation of a Mott insulator of a repulsively interacting two-component Fermi gas in an optical lattice. It is signalled by three features: a drastic suppression of doubly occupied lattice sites, a strong reduction of the compressibility inferred from the response of double occupancy to atom number increase, and the appearance of a gapped mode in the excitation spectrum. In collaboration with Robert J\"ordens, Niels Strohmaier, and Daniel Greif, ETH Zurich; Kenneth G\"unter, ETH Zurich, ENS Paris; Leticia Tarruell and Tilman Esslinger, ETH Zurich.
To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2009.MAR.V3.1