Trapping and cooling fermionic atoms into the Mott and N\'eel states

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates how to trap and cool fermionic atoms in optical lattices to achieve Mott and Ne9el states, analyzing phase diagrams, density, and double occupancy as experimental probes.

Contribution

It provides a generic phase diagram for fermionic gases in optical lattices and compares strategies for reaching antiferromagnetic order considering trapping potentials.

Findings

Derived a phase diagram as a function of interaction, particle number, and potential.

Connected density and double occupancy to experimental detection of Mott states.

Compared strategies for achieving Ne9el order using entropic considerations.

Abstract

We perform a theoretical study of a fermionic gas with two hyperfine states confined to an optical lattice. We derive a generic state diagram as a function of interaction strength, particle number, and confining potential. We discuss the central density, the double occupancy and their derivatives as probes for the Mott state, connecting our findings to the recent experiment of J\"ordens et al. Using entropic arguments we compare two different strategies to reach the antiferromagnetic state in the presence of a trapping potential.