Enlarging and cooling the N\'eel state in an optical lattice

TL;DR

This paper proposes an experimental scheme using additional laser beams to enlarge and cool the Ne9el state in ultracold fermionic gases within optical lattices, enhancing detection and stability.

Contribution

It introduces a method to enlarge and cool the Ne9el state in optical lattices by adding compensating laser beams, improving realization and detection of this quantum phase.

Findings

Enhanced size of Ne9el state in optical lattice traps.

Improved detection signal via optical Bragg scattering.

Feasibility of cooling and adjusting chemical potential during the experiment.

Abstract

We propose an experimental scheme to favor both the realization and the detection of the N\'eel state in a two-component gas of ultracold fermions in a three-dimensional simple-cubic optical lattice. By adding three compensating Gaussian laser beams to the standard three pairs of retroreflected lattice beams, and adjusting the relative waists and intensities of the beams, one can significantly enhance the size of the N\'eel state in the trap, thus increasing the signal of optical Bragg scattering. Furthermore, the additional beams provide for adjustment of the local chemical potential and the possibility to evaporatively cool the gas while in the lattice. Our proposals are relevant to other attempts to realize many-body quantum phases in optical lattices.