Mott-insulator state of cold atoms in tilted optical lattices: Doublon dynamics and multilevel Landau-Zener tunneling

Abstract

We discuss the dynamical response of strongly interacting Bose atoms in an adiabatically tilted optical lattice. The analysis is performed in terms of the multilevel Landau-Zener tunneling. Different regimes of tunneling are identified and analytical expressions for the doublon number, which is the quantity measured in laboratory experiments, are derived.