Matter wave quantum dots (anti-dots) in ultracold atomic Bose-Fermi mixtures

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that ultracold Bose-Fermi mixtures in optical lattices can form matter wave quantum dots (anti-dots) with trapped fermionic states, providing a new way to realize and analyze quantum dot-like structures in cold atom systems.

Contribution

The study introduces a self-consistent approach to show that gap solitons in Bose-Fermi mixtures act as matter wave quantum dots, with detailed analysis of energy spectra and trapping properties.

Findings

Gap solitons can serve as matter wave quantum dots in ultracold mixtures.

Fermionic states are protected from thermal decoherence within the condensate.

Energy levels and parameters of quantum dots are characterized both numerically and analytically.

Abstract

The properties of ultracold atomic Bose-Fermi mixtures in external potentials are investigated and the existence of gap solitons of Bose-Fermi mixtures in optical lattices demonstrated. Using a self-consistent approach we compute the energy spectrum and show that gap solitons can be viewed as matter wave realizations of quantum dots (anti-dots) with the bosonic density playing the role of trapping (expulsive) potential for the fermions. The fermionic states trapped in the condensate are shown to be at the bottom of the Fermi sea and therefore well protected from thermal decoherence. Energy levels, filling factors and parameters dependence of gap soliton quantum dots are also calculated both numerically and analytically.