Parametric Instabilities of Interacting Bosons in Periodically Driven 1D Optical Lattices

Abstract

Periodically driven quantum systems are currently explored in view of realizing novel many-body phases of matter. This approach is particularly promising in gases of ultracold atoms, where sophisticated shaking protocols can be realized and interparticle interactions are well controlled. The combination of interactions and time-periodic driving, however, often leads to uncontrollable heating and instabilities, potentially preventing practical applications of Floquet engineering in large many-body quantum systems. In this work, we experimentally identify the existence of parametric instabilities in weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensates in strongly driven optical lattices through momentum-resolved measurements, in line with theoretical predictions. Parametric instabilities can trigger the destruction of weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensates through the rapid growth of collective excitations, in particular in systems with weak harmonic confinement transverse to the lattice axis. Understanding the onset of parametric instabilities in driven quantum matter is crucial for determining optimal conditions for the engineering of modulation-induced many-body systems.

Topological chiral currents in the Gross-Neveu model extension

“…We note that the combination of Floquet-assisted tunneling with Hubbard interactions, as would be required for this full quantum simulator of the Creutz-Hubbard ladder [131], may present limitations due to a heating mechanism where the atoms get excited by resonantly absorbing quanta from the periodically-driven radiation [132,196,197]. Although there has been promising progress in the minimization of this heating in specific optical-lattice implementations [198][199][200][201], it would be desirable to come up with a different scheme that implements the Peierls phases in the cross-linked geometry.…”

Instability of holographic superfluids in optical lattice

“…Since the optical lattice starts to be used for studying cold atom physics, many kinds of research works about the instability have been carried out in various respects. There are Landau or dynamical instability [1,2,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34], parametric instabilities [35][36][37][38][39], modulational instability [40][41][42][43][44] and low-acceleration instability [45], etc. In this paper we will focus on the Landau and dynamical instability only and simultaneously.…”

Floquet Solitons and Dynamics of Periodically Driven Matter Waves with Negative Effective Mass

“…Depending on the required driving frequency, we apply the driving force FðtÞ by either modulating a vertical magnetic field gradient or by periodically shaking the position of the lattice sites with detuned laser beam frequencies [19]. For fast driving, we avoid parametric and interband excitations [31][32][33][34][35] by using shaking frequencies with excitation energies in the first band gap of the lattice. Further details about our setup and the parameters of our measurements are presented in the Supplemental Material [36].…”