Dynamics of cold bosons in optical lattices: effects of higher Bloch bands

The extended effective multiorbital Bose–Hubbard-type Hamiltonian which takes into account higher Bloch bands is discussed for boson systems in optical lattices, with emphasis on dynamical properties, in relation to current experiments. It is shown that the renormalization of Hamiltonian parameters depends on the dimension of the problem studied. Therefore, mean-field phase diagrams do not scale with the coordination number of the lattice. The effect of Hamiltonian parameters renormalization on the dynamics in reduced one-dimensional optical lattice potential is analyzed. We study both the quasi-adiabatic quench through the superfluid–Mott insulator transition and the absorption spectroscopy, that is, the energy absorption rate when the lattice depth is periodically modulated. (paper)