Identifying insulating states of ultra cold atoms with cavity transmission spectrum

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the transmission characteristics of an optical cavity loaded with ultra cold atoms in a one dimensional optical lattice at absolute zero temperature. In particular, we consider the situation when the many body quantum state of the ultra cold atoms is an insulating state with fixed number of atoms at each site, which can be either density wave (DW) or Mott insulator (MI) phase, each showing different type of discrete lattice translational symmetry. We provide a general framework of understanding the transmission spectrum from a single and two cavities/modes loaded with such insulating phases. Further, we also discuss how such a transmission spectrum changes when these insulating phases make a cross over to the superfluid (SF) phase with the changing depth of the optical lattice potential.