Nonlinear Landau-Zener-Stückelberg-Majorana tunneling and interferometry of extended Bose-Hubbard flux ladders

Phys Rev E. 2023 Sep;108(3-1):034214. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.108.034214.

Abstract

The nonlinear Landau-Zener-Stückelberg-Majorana (LZSM) tunneling dynamics and interferometry of an extended Bose-Hubbard flux ladder are studied. Based on the mean-field theory, the dispersion relation of the system is given, and it is found that loop structures periodically appear in the band structure and the nonlinear LZSM interference occurs naturally without Floquet engineering, which can be effectively modulated by atomic interactions. The nonlinear energy bands and the unique chirality feature of the flux ladder system can be identified through the dynamics of nonlinear Landau-Zener tunneling. Remarkably, the critical position of the noise in the interference pattern can be employed to identify the loop structure in the energy band, establishing an effective link between the nonlinear loop structure and LZSM interferometry. The position, intensity, symmetry, and width of interference patterns strongly depend on the magnetic field, atomic interactions, rung-to-leg coupling ratio, and energy bias, which provides an effective way to measure these parameters using the nonlinear LZSM interferometry. This paper further expands the dynamics of flux ladder systems to complex interaction regions and has potential applications in the precise measurement of related nonlinear systems.