Novel Quantum Phases of Ultracold Bosonic Atoms in Honeycomb Optical Lattice

We study the quantum phase transition of ultracold atoms in the honeycomb optical lattice. The Hamiltonian of ultracold bosonic atoms in the honeycomb optical lattice is derived. We take the mean-field approximation and further solve the Hamiltonian with the numerical diagonalization method. We obtain the phase diagram and find that the Mott-insulator (MI), density wave (DW) and modulated superfluid (MS) phases appear. Furthermore, the phase diagram is analyzed according to the order parameter and the average number of particles.