Interaction induced fractional Bloch and tunneling oscillations

TL;DR

This paper investigates how interactions among bosons in a 1D lattice under dc bias lead to fractional Bloch oscillations and tunneling phenomena, revealing new dynamical regimes influenced by interaction strength.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of fractional Bloch oscillations in interacting bosons and demonstrates their dependence on interaction strength and particle clustering.

Findings

Fractional Bloch periods are inversely proportional to the number of bosons in a bound state.

Interaction strength influences the amplitude of Bloch oscillations.

Specific interaction values enable tunneling to distant lattice sites.

Abstract

We study the dynamics of few interacting bosons in a one-dimensional lattice with dc bias. In the absence of interactions the system displays single particle Bloch oscillations. For strong interaction the Bloch oscillation regime reemerges with fractional Bloch periods which are inversely proportional to the number of bosons clustered into a bound state. The interaction strength is affecting the oscillation amplitude. Excellent agreement is found between numerical data and a composite particle dynamics approach. For specific values of the interaction strength a particle will tunnel from the interacting cloud to a well defined distant lattice location.