ABSTRACT
Different quantum states of atoms in optical lattices can be nondestructively monitored by off-resonant collective light scattering into a cavity. Angle resolved measurements of photon number and variance give information about atom-number fluctuations and pair correlations without single-site access. Observation at angles of diffraction minima provides information on quantum fluctuations insensitive to classical noise. For transverse probing, no photon is scattered into a cavity from a Mott insulator phase, while the photon number is proportional to the atom number for a superfluid.
ABSTRACT
We study a generalized cold atom Bose-Hubbard model, where the periodic optical potential is formed by a cavity field with quantum properties. On the one hand, the common coupling of all atoms to the same mode introduces cavity-mediated long-range atom-atom interactions, and, on the other hand, atomic backaction on the field introduces atom-field entanglement. This modifies the properties of the associated quantum phase transitions and allows for new correlated atom-field states, including superposition of different atomic quantum phases. After deriving an approximative Hamiltonian including the new long-range interaction terms, we exhibit central physical phenomena at generic configurations of few atoms in few wells. We find strong modifications of population fluctuations and next-nearest-neighbor correlations near the phase transition point.
