Bose-Fermi mixtures in an optical lattice

TL;DR

This paper investigates the quantum phases and transitions in Bose-Fermi mixtures within optical lattices, analyzing ground states, quantum fluctuations, and phase diagrams relevant for experimental realization.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of Mott states, superfluid-insulator, and metal-insulator transitions in Bose-Fermi mixtures using mean-field approximations.

Findings

Identification of Mott ground states in deep optical lattices

Phase diagram of superfluid-insulator and metal-insulator transitions

Discussion of quantum fluctuations effects on these states

Abstract

We study an atomic Bose-Fermi mixture in an optical lattice which is confined using an optical trap. We obtain the Mott ground states of such a system in the limit of deep optical lattice and discuss the effect of quantum fluctuations on these states. We also study the superfluid-insulator transitions of bosons and metal-insulator transition of fermions in such a mixture within a slave-rotor mean-field approximation, and obtain the corresponding phase diagram. We discuss experimental implications of our results.