Diffusive and arrested transport of atoms under tailored disorder

Fangzhao Alex An, Eric J. Meier and Bryce Gadway ()
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Fangzhao Alex An: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Eric J. Meier: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Bryce Gadway: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Ultracold atoms in optical lattices offer a unique platform for investigating disorder-driven phenomena. While static disordered site potentials have been explored in a number of experiments, a more general, dynamical control over site-energy and off-diagonal tunnelling disorder has been lacking. The use of atomic quantum states as synthetic dimensions has introduced the spectroscopic, site-resolved control necessary to engineer more tailored realisations of disorder. Here, we present explorations of dynamical and tunneling disorder in an atomic system by controlling laser-driven dynamics of atomic population in a momentum-space lattice. By applying static tunnelling phase disorder to a one-dimensional lattice, we observe ballistic quantum spreading. When the applied disorder fluctuates on time scales comparable to intersite tunnelling, we instead observe diffusive atomic transport, signalling a crossover from quantum to classical expansion dynamics. We compare these observations to the case of static site-energy disorder, where we directly observe quantum localisation.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00387-w

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