Atomtronics with holes: Coherent transport of an empty site in a triple-well potential

We investigate arrays of three traps with two fermionic or bosonic atoms. The tunneling interaction between neighboring sites is used to prepare multisite dark states for the empty site (i.e., the hole) which allows for the coherent manipulation of its external degrees of freedom. By means of an ab initio integration of the Schrödinger equation, we investigate the adiabatic transport of a hole between the two extreme traps of a triple-well potential. Furthermore, a quantum-trajectory approach based on the de Broglie-Bohm formulation of quantum mechanics is used to get physical insight into the transport process. Finally, we discuss the use of the hole for the construction of a coherent single hole diode and a coherent single hole transistor. © 2010 The American Physical Society.