Inelastic Light Scattering to probe Strongly Correlated Bosons in Optical Lattices

Inelastic light scattering allows to measure correlation functions which could identify different many-body states obtained trapping ultracold bosons in optical potentials. We will report on the experimental investigation of inelastic light scattering from an array of 1D ultracold samples. The reduced dimensionality increases temperature fluctuations and correlations which can be probed by Bragg scattering measurements. Loading the 1D atomic samples in a longitudinal periodic potential, we induced excitations both in the lowest energy band and in the excited bands of the lattice across the superfluid to Mott insulator crossover evidencing the inhomogeneity of the system under investigation.