Matterwave localization in disordered cold atom lattices

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to observe Anderson localization of ultracold atoms in disordered optical lattices with high experimental control and theoretical tractability, demonstrated through a detailed one-dimensional analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental setup for ultracold atoms in disordered lattices and provides an exact theoretical analysis of localization phenomena.

Findings

Potential for precise experimental control of disorder.

Exact theoretical modeling of scattering potentials.

Detailed analysis of one-dimensional localization.

Abstract

We propose to observe Anderson localization of ultracold atoms in the presence of a random potential made of atoms of another species and trapped at the nodes of an optical lattice, with a filling factor less than unity. Such systems enable a nearly perfect experimental control of the disorder, while the possibility of modelling the scattering potentials by a set of point-like ones allows an exact theoretical analysis. This is illustrated by a detailed analysis of the one-dimensional case.