Dynamic structure factor of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a one-dimensional optical lattice

Abstract

We study the effect of a one-dimensional periodic potential on the dynamic structure factor of an interacting Bose-Einstein condensate at zero temperature. We show that, due to phononic correlations, the excitation strength toward the first band develops a typical oscillating behavior as a function of the momentum transfer, and vanishes at even multiples of the Bragg momentum. The effects of interactions on the static structure factor are found to be significantly amplified by the presence of the optical potential. Our predictions can be tested in stimulated photon scattering experiments.