Atomic current in optical lattices: Reexamination of the Esaki-Tsu equation
Andrey R. Kolovsky · Physical Review A · 2008
This paper discusses the master equation approach to the derivation of the Esaki-Tsu equation for drift current. It is shown that the relaxation term in the master equation can be identified by measuring the velocity distribution of the carriers. We also show that the standard form of the relaxation term, used earlier to derive the Esaki-Tsu equation, predicts unphysical velocity distribution. We suggest a more elaborate relaxation term, which is argued to correctly capture the effect of a bosonic bath in experiments on atomic current in optical lattices.