Abstract
We suggest to view ultracold atoms in a time-periodically shifted optical lattice as a 'dressed matter wave', analogous to a dressed atom in an electromagnetic field. A possible effect lending support to this concept is a transition of ultracold bosonic atoms from a superfluid to a Mott-insulating state in response to appropriate "dressing" achieved through time-periodic lattice modulation. In order to observe this effect in a laboratory experiment, one has to identify conditions allowing for effectively adiabatic motion of a many-body Floquet state.
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