Mott transition of fermionic atoms in a three-dimensional optical trap

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates the Mott transition in fermionic atoms within a 3D optical lattice and harmonic trap, using an adapted dynamical mean field theory to analyze inhomogeneous systems and experimental signatures.

Contribution

It introduces an efficient adaptation of dynamical mean field theory for large inhomogeneous systems to study the Mott transition in optical lattices.

Findings

Mott-insulating phase appears above a critical interaction strength

Density profiles show clear signatures of the Mott phase

Time-of-flight experiments can detect the Mott transition

Abstract

We study theoretically the Mott metal-insulator transition for a system of fermionic atoms confined in a three-dimensional optical lattice and a harmonic trap. We describe an inhomogeneous system of several thousand sites using an adaptation of dynamical mean field theory solved efficiently with the numerical renormalization group method. Above a critical value of the on-site interaction, a Mott-insulating phase appears in the system. We investigate signatures of the Mott phase in the density profile and in time-of-flight experiments.