Buonsante P, Giampaolo S M, Illuminati F, Penna V, Vezzani A
C.N.I.S.M. and Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Torino, C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24, I-10129 Torino, Italy.
Phys Rev Lett. 2008 Jun 20;100(24):240402. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.240402. Epub 2008 Jun 17.
We investigate the properties of strongly interacting heteronuclear boson-boson mixtures loaded in realistic optical lattices, with particular emphasis on the physics of interfaces. In particular, we numerically reproduce the recent experimental observation that the addition of a small fraction of 41K induces a significant loss of coherence in 87Rb, providing a simple explanation. We then investigate the robustness against the inhomogeneity typical of realistic experimental realizations of the glassy quantum emulsions recently predicted to occur in strongly interacting boson-boson mixtures on ideal homogeneous lattices.