Ion-induced density bubble in a strongly correlated one-dimensional gas

We consider a harmonically trapped Tonks-Girardeau gas of impenetrable bosons in the presence of a single embedded ion, which is assumed to be tightly confined in an RF trap. In an ultracold ion-atom collision the ion's charge induces an electric dipole moment in the atoms which leads to an attractive r-4 potential asymptotically. We treat the ion as a static deformation of the harmonic trap potential and model its short range interaction with the gas in the framework of quantum defect theory. The molecular bound states of the ionic potential are not populated due to the lack of any possible relaxation process in the Tonks-Girardeau regime. Armed with this knowledge we calculate the density profile of the gas in the presence of a central ionic impurity and show that a density bubble of the order of 1μm occurs around the ion for typical experimental parameters. From these exact results we show that an ionic impurity in a Tonks gas can be described using a pseudopotential approximation, allowing for significantly easier treatment. © 2010 The American Physical Society.