Type: Article
Publication Date: 2009-10-28
Citations: 101
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.80.043626
Using a cold atomic gas exposed to laser pulses---a realization of the chaotic quasiperiodic kicked rotor with three incommensurate frequencies---we study experimentally and theoretically the Anderson metal-insulator transition in three dimensions. Sensitive measurements of the atomic wave function and the use of finite-size scaling techniques make it possible to unambiguously demonstrate the existence of a quantum phase transition and to measure its critical exponents. By taking proper account of systematic corrections to one-parameter scaling, we show the universality of the critical exponent $\ensuremath{\nu}=1.59\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01$, which is found to be equal to the one previously computed for the Anderson model.