Abstract
We discuss atomic lattice excitons (ALEs), bound particle-hole pairs formed by fermionic atoms in two bands of an optical lattice. Such a system provides a clean set-up, with tunable masses and interactions, to study fundamental properties of excitons including exciton condensation. We also find that for a large effective mass ratio between particles and holes, effective long-range interactions can mediate the formation of an exciton crystal, for which superfluidity is suppressed. Using a combination of mean-field treatments, bosonized theory based on a Born-Oppenheimer approximation, and one-dimensional (1D) numerical computation, we discuss the properties of ALEs under varying conditions, and discuss in particular their preparation and measurement.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 407 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-33 |
| Number of pages | 33 |
| Journal | New Journal of Physics |
| Volume | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 13 Nov 2007 |
| MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |