CLEO®/Europe — IQEC 2013 Quantum phases and transport of one-dimensional disordered bosons

The interplay between disorder and interactions has a large impact on the properties of quantum systems. Although it is present in any real physical system, disorder is difficult to control, to tune, and therefore to study. Even more challenging is the investigation of the combined effect of disorder and interactions. While non-interacting particles can be localized by disorder, interactions can support superfluidity, a state of matter normally impervious to disorder. The complex interplay between the two can lead to new, unconventional phases, still not completely understood neither in theory nor in experiments. Ultracold atoms in optical lattices represent an ideal test-bed to study the physical properties of disordered systems.