THREE-DIMENSIONAL DYNAMICS OF A FERMIONIC MOTT WEDDING-CAKE IN CLEAN AND DISORDERED OPTICAL LATTICES

Abstract. Non-equilibrium quantum phenomena are ubiquitous in nature. Yet, theoretical predictions on the real-time dynamics of many-body quan-tum systems remain formidably challenging, especially for high dimensions, strong interactions or disordered samples. Here we consider a notable par-adigm of strongly correlated Fermi systems, the Mott phase of the Hub-bard model, in a setup resembling ultracold-gases experiments. We study the three-dimensional expansion of a cloud into an optical lattice after re-moving the confining potential. We use time-dependent density-functional theory combined with dynamical mean-field theory, considering interac-tions below and above the Mott threshold, as well as disorder effects. At strong coupling, we observe multiple timescales in the melting of the Mott wedding-cake structure, as the Mott plateau persist orders of magnitude longer than the band insulating core. We also show that disorder desta-bilises the Mott plateau and that, compared to a clean setup, localisation can decrease, creating an interesting dynamic crossover during the expan-sion