Phase Coherence and Superfluid-Insulator Transition in a Disordered Bose-Einstein Condensate

We have studied the effects of a disordered optical potential on the transport and phase coherence of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of 7Li atoms. At moderate disorder strengths (V_D), we observe inhibited transport and damping of dipole excitations, while in time-of-flight images, random but reproducible interference patterns are observed. In-situ images reveal that the appearance of interference is correlated with density modulation, without complete fragmentation. At higher V_D, the interference contrast diminishes as the BEC fragments into multiple pieces with little phase coherence.