Pair tunneling of bosonic atoms in an optical lattice

Abstract

We show that atom-molecule coupling with large detuning can cause effective hopping of pairs of bosonic atoms in a state-dependent optical lattice. Taking advantage of the high controllability of all relevant parameters in such systems, we discuss the pair-superfluid (PSF) to Mott insulator (MI) transition using the effective model within mean-field theory. In the presence of on-site disorder, simultaneous tunneling of bosonic atoms can result in a compressible weak Mott insulating phase. We have also investigated the coexistence of superfluid (SF) and PSF in the lattice, and found that the competition between the two hopping mechanisms can cause a first-order PSF(SF)-MI transition.