Abstract
We develop a linear response theory to provide a unified description of two recent spectroscopy protocols for probing one-dimensional supersolid states realized in cold-atom systems. Both protocols involve applying a periodic optical potential to excite the supersolid and determine its excitation frequencies and density response characteristics. This information can be used to estimate the superfluid fraction. We validate our linear response theory against nonlinear meanfield simulations of the dynamics for both translationally invariant and trapped cases. A key focus is the behavior at the band edge - the regime occurring when the optical potential used to excite the system has a wavelength that is twice the value of the supersolid lattice constant. Here symmetry can be used to selectively excite a mode from one of the two low-energy gapless excitation bands. Finally, we consider the application of the spectroscopy protocols to determine the superfluid fraction, showing the relationship to hydrodynamic theory and a Josephson-Junction array model.