| Quantum degenerate atom gases have emerged as valuable tools for studying theoretical models of condensed matter systems. The ability to manipulate atoms with magnetic and electric fields, from DC to optical frequencies, coherently if desired, and tune the strength and sign of interatomic interactions means that a wide range of effective Hamiltonians can be realized. Moreover, the Hamiltonian can be known to very high accuracy, far better than in most condensed matter systems.;We use cold atoms in a disordered optical lattice, created by combining a fine-grained optical speckle field and a 3D optical lattice, to study the disordered Bose-Hubbard (DBH) model. The disorder strength is continuously tunable by controlling the intensity of the speckle field, and the statistical properties of the disorder are known, allowing the distribution of the DBH parameters to be calculated. This level of knowledge is seldom, if ever, available in disordered condensed matter systems, making comparison of experimental observations with results from theoretical models difficult.;While cold atom gases have been used previously to study disorder, the regime of strong interactions and random, fine-grain disorder, needed to explore the DBH model, has not been previously accessed. In this regime, we observe reversible disorder-induced boson localization and obtain quantitative measurements which can serve as a benchmark for theoretical work on the DBH model.;In this work, we describe the construction of an apparatus to create Bose-Einstein condensates of 87Rb atoms and load condensates into a disordered 3D optical lattice, realizing the DBH model. Also as part of this work, the major technical components needed to implement a stroboscopic quantum simulation scheme were constructed and a number of calculations were performed. |
