Open AccessDensity correlation effect of incoherent ultracold atoms in an optical lattice
Author(s) -
Zhuo Xu,
Xiayin Liu
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
wuli xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 47
ISSN - 1000-3290
DOI - 10.7498/aps.60.120305
Subject(s) - physics , optical lattice , mott insulator , diffraction , interference (communication) , matter wave , ultracold atom , correlation function (quantum field theory) , condensed matter physics , lattice (music) , ultracold neutrons , state of matter , atomic physics , optics , superfluidity , quantum mechanics , neutron , quantum , dielectric , channel (broadcasting) , electrical engineering , engineering , acoustics
Atoms in the Mott insulator state trapped in an optical lattice are incoherence matter wave source. It is not the first-order, but the second-order interference effect (density correlation) that will appear for this incoherence wave source after being released. A density correlation function of the freely expanding ultracold gases is obtained theoretically, which presents sharp peaks of interference, and the stripes structure is similar to the diffraction gratings. It is further pointed out that the peak structure of the density correlation function depends on the relative position between two detectors. The phenomenon of subwavelength interference of matter waves is also proposed in this paper.