Stripe formation in fermionic atoms on a two-dimensional optical lattice inside a box trap: Density-matrix renormalization-group studies for the repulsive Hubbard model with open boundary conditions

M. Machida, M. Okumura, and S. Yamada

Phys. Rev. A 77, 033619 – Published 19 March 2008

Abstract

We suggest that a box shape trap enables one to observe intrinsic properties of the repulsive Hubbard model in a fixed doping in contrast to the conventional harmonic trap bringing about spatial variations of atom density profiles. In order to predict atomic density profile under the box trap, we apply the directly extended density-matrix renormalization-group method to a four-leg repulsive Hubbard model with the open boundary condition. Consequently, we find that stripe formation is universal in a low-hole-doping range and the stripe sensitively changes its structure with variations of $U ∕ t$ and the doping rate. A remarkable change is that a stripe formed by a hole pair turns to one by a bihole pair when entering a limited strong $U ∕ t$ range. Furthermore, a systematic calculation reveals that the Hubbard model shows a change from the stripe to the Friedel like oscillation with increasing the doping rate.