We numerically study the expansion dynamics of initially localized dipolar bosons in a homogeneous 1D optical lattice for different initial states. Comparison is made to interacting bosons with contact interaction. For shallow lattices the expansion is unimodal and ballistic, while strong lattices suppress tunneling. However for intermediate lattice depths a strong interplay between dipolar interaction and lattice depth occurs. The expansion is found to be bimodal, the central cloud expansion can be distinguished from the outer halo structure. In the regime of strongly interactions dipolar bosons exhibit two time scales, with an initial diffusion and then arrested transport in the long time; while strongly interacting bosons in the fermionized limit exhibit ballistic expansion. Our study highlights how different lattice depths and initial states can be manipulated to control tunneling dynamics.
