Bistable Mott-insulator to superfluid phase transition in cavity optomechanics

TL;DR

This paper investigates how ultracold bosons in a bistable optical lattice within an optomechanical resonator can exhibit a phase transition between Mott-insulator and superfluid states due to cavity-induced bistability.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism for controlling quantum phase transitions via optical bistability in cavity optomechanics.

Findings

Identification of bistability-induced phase transition

Demonstration of controllable switch between superfluid and Mott-insulator states

Analysis of cavity field effects on many-body quantum states

Abstract

We study the many-body state of ultracold bosons in a bistable optical lattice potential in an optomechanical resonator in the weak-coupling limit. New physics arises as a result of bistability and discontinuous jumps in the cavity field. Of particular interest is the situation where the optical cavity is engineered so that a single input beam can result in two radically different stable ground states for the intracavity gas: superfluid and Mott-insulator.