Quantum phases of atomic boson-fermion mixtures in optical lattices

Abstract

The zero-temperature phase diagram of a binary mixture of bosonic and fermionic atoms in a one-dimensional optical lattice is studied in the framework of the Bose-Fermi-Hubbard model. By exact numerical solution of the associated eigenvalue problems, ground state observables and the response to an external phase twist are evaluated. The stiffnesses under phase variations provide measures for the boson superfluid fraction and the fermionic Drude weight. Several distinct quantum phases are identified as functions of the strength of the repulsive boson-boson and the boson-fermion interactions. In addition to the bosonic Mott-insulator phase, two other insulating phases are found, where both the bosonic superfluid fraction and the fermionic Drude weight vanish simultaneously. One of these double-insulator phases exhibits a crystalline diagonal long-range order, while the other is characterized by spatial separation of the two species.