Meta-nematic, smectic and crystalline phases of dipolar fermions in an optical lattice
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It has been suggested that some strongly correlated matter might be understood qualitatively in terms of liquid crystalline phases intervening between the Fermi gas and the Wigner crystal or Mott insulator. We propose a tunable realisation of this soft quantum matter physics in an ultra-cold gas. It uses optical lattices and dipolar interactions to realise a particularly simple model. Our analysis reveals a rich phase diagram featuring a meta-nematic transition where the Fermi liquid changes dimensionality; a smectic phase (stripes); and a crystalline, `checkerboard' phase.
improved figure, added references, text shortened, typos corrected; to appear in Physical Review A (Rapid Communications)
improved figure, added references, text shortened, typos corrected; to appear in Physical Review A (Rapid Communications)