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Optical Lattice Superfluid–Mott Insulator Simulator

Interactive optical-lattice simulator: tune the laser standing-wave depth trapping ultracold neutral atoms in an egg-carton light potential, watch the Bose-Hubbard superfluid-to-Mott-insulator transition, and release the trap to image either sharp matter-wave interference peaks or a smooth incoherent blob.

Physics & Mechanics3DAdvanced60 FPS💨 Air & Wind

Two pairs of counter-propagating laser beams create a standing-wave "egg-carton" light potential that traps individual ultracold atoms at every intensity maximum. Drag the lattice-depth slider to deepen the wells and watch the Bose-Hubbard competition between tunneling and on-site repulsion drive the gas from a phase-coherent superfluid, where atoms delocalize and tunnel freely between sites, into a Mott insulator, where exactly one atom freezes into each well. Press "Release & image" to switch the trap off and see the simulated time-of-flight absorption image: sharp matter-wave interference peaks for the superfluid, a smooth incoherent blob for the Mott insulator — exactly how real cold-atom labs distinguish the two phases.

⚙ Under the hood

Interactive optical-lattice simulator: two crossed laser standing waves create an egg-carton light potential trapping ultracold neutral atoms one per site. Drag the lattice-depth slider to drive the Bose-Hubbard superfluid-to-Mott-insulator transition, then hit "Release & image" to see a simulated time-of-flight shot -- sharp matter-wave interference peaks for the coherent superfluid, a smooth incoherent blob for the number-locked Mott insulator.

Three.jsOptical LatticeBose-Hubbard ModelUltracold AtomsSuperfluidMott InsulatorQuantum Simulation

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install