Magnetic phase transitions of spin-1 ultracold bosons in a cubic optical lattice

Abstract

We investigate strongly correlated spin-1 ultracold bosons with antiferromagnetic interactions in a cubic optical lattice, based on bosonic dynamical mean-field theory. Rich phase diagrams of the system are mapped out at both zero and finite temperature, and in particular the existence of a spin-singlet condensate is established. Interestingly, at finite temperature, we find that the superfluid can be heated into a Mott insulator with even (odd) filling via a first- (second-) order phase transition, analogous to the Pomeranchuk effect in $^{3}$He. Moreover, for typical experimental setups, we estimate the critical temperatures for different ordered phases and our results suggest that direct experimental observation of these phases is promising.