Interaction and filling induced quantum phases of dual Mott insulators of bosons and fermions

TL;DR

This paper investigates the complex quantum phases arising from interactions between dual Mott insulators of bosons and fermions in cold atom systems, revealing novel phenomena like phase separation and composite particle formation.

Contribution

It introduces the study of strongly-correlated dual Mott insulators of bosons and fermions, showing how inter-species interactions drastically alter their quantum phases.

Findings

Inter-species interactions cause melting and phase separation.

Formation of composite particles due to interactions.

Experimental results align with numerical simulations indicating adiabatic heating and cooling.

Abstract

Many-body effects are at the very heart of diverse phenomena found in condensed-matter physics. One striking example is the Mott insulator phase where conductivity is suppressed as a result of a strong repulsive interaction. Advances in cold atom physics have led to the realization of the Mott insulating phases of atoms in an optical lattice, mimicking the corresponding condensed matter systems. Here, we explore an exotic strongly-correlated system of Interacting Dual Mott Insulators of bosons and fermions. We reveal that an inter-species interaction between bosons and fermions drastically modifies each Mott insulator, causing effects that include melting, generation of composite particles, an anti-correlated phase, and complete phase-separation. Comparisons between the experimental results and numerical simulations indicate intrinsic adiabatic heating and cooling for the attractively and repulsively interacting dual Mott Insulators, respectively.