Insulating behavior of a trapped ideal Fermi gas

Year: 2004

Authors: Pezzč L., Pitaevskii L., Smerzi A., Stringari S., Modugno G., De Mirandes E., Ferlaino F., Ott H., Roati G., Inguscio M.

Autors Affiliation: Univ Trent, Ist Nazl Fis Mat BEC CRS, I-38050 Povo, Italy; Univ Trent, Dipartimento Fis, I-38050 Povo, Italy; PL Kapitza Phys Problems Inst, Moscow 117334, Russia; Los Alamos Natl Lab, Div Theoret, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA; Univ Florence, LENS, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; Univ Florence, Dipartimento Fis, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; INFM, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.

Abstract: We investigate theoretically and experimentally the center-of-mass motion of an ideal Fermi gas in a combined periodic and harmonic potential. We find a crossover from a conducting to an insulating regime as the Fermi energy moves from the first Bloch band into the band gap of the lattice. The conducting regime is characterized by an oscillation of the cloud about the potential minimum, while in the insulating case the center of mass remains on one side of the potential.

Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Volume: 93 (12)      Pages from: 120401-1  to: 120401-4

More Information: This work was supported by MIUR, by EU under Contract No. HPRICT1999-00111, by the DOE, and by INFM, PRA “Photonmatter.” H. O. was supported by EU under Contract No. HPMF-CT-2002-01958.
KeyWords: Bose-einstein Condensation
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.120401

Citations: 86
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