RESUMEN
Topological order can be found in a wide range of physical systems, from crystalline solids, photonic meta-materials and even atmospheric waves to optomechanic, acoustic and atomic systems. Topological systems are a robust foundation for creating quantized channels for transporting electrical current, light, and atmospheric disturbances. These topological effects are quantified in terms of integer-valued 'invariants', such as the Chern number, applicable to the quantum Hall effect, or the [Formula: see text] invariant suitable for topological insulators. Here, we report the engineering of Rashba spin-orbit coupling for a cold atomic gas giving non-trivial topology, without the underlying crystalline structure that conventionally yields integer Chern numbers. We validated our procedure by spectroscopically measuring both branches of the Rashba dispersion relation which touch at a single Dirac point. We then measured the quantum geometry underlying the dispersion relation using matter-wave interferometry to implement a form of quantum state tomography, giving a Berry's phase with magnitude π. This implies that opening a gap at the Dirac point would give two dispersions (bands) each with half-integer Chern number, potentially implying new forms of topological transport.
RESUMEN
We propose and describe our realization of a deeply subwavelength optical lattice for ultracold neutral atoms using N resonantly Raman-coupled internal degrees of freedom. Although counterpropagating lasers with wavelength λ provided two-photon Raman coupling, the resultant lattice period was λ/2N, an N-fold reduction as compared to the conventional λ/2 lattice period. We experimentally demonstrated this lattice built from the three F = 1 Zeeman states of a 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate, and generated a lattice with a λ/6 = 132 nm period from λ = 790 nm lasers. Lastly, we show that adding an additional rf-coupling field converts this lattice into a superlattice with N wells uniformly spaced within the original λ/2 unit cell.
RESUMEN
We describe a technique to emulate the dynamics of two-level P T -symmetric spin Hamiltonians, replete with gain and loss, using the unitary dynamics of a larger quantum system. The two-level system in question is embedded in a subspace of a four-level Hamiltonian, with the exterior levels acting as reservoirs. The emulation time is normally finite, limited by the depletion of the reservoirs. We show that it is possible to emulate the desired behaviour of the P T -symmetric Hamiltonian without depleting the reservoir levels, by including an additional coupling between them. This extends the emulation time indefinitely, when in the unbroken symmetry phase of the non-unitary P T dynamics. We propose a realistic experimental implementation using dynamically decoupled magnetic sublevels of ultracold atoms.
RESUMEN
Decoherence of quantum systems due to uncontrolled fluctuations of the environment presents fundamental obstacles in quantum science. Clock transitions which are insensitive to such fluctuations are used to improve coherence, however, they are not present in all systems or for arbitrary system parameters. Here we create a trio of synthetic clock transitions using continuous dynamical decoupling in a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate in which we observe a reduction of sensitivity to magnetic-field noise of up to four orders of magnitude; this work complements the parallel work by Anderson et al.. In addition, using a concatenated scheme, we demonstrate suppression of sensitivity to fluctuations in our control fields. These field-insensitive states represent an ideal foundation for the next generation of cold-atom experiments focused on fragile many-body phases relevant to quantum magnetism, artificial gauge fields, and topological matter.
RESUMEN
We describe a Fourier transform spectroscopy technique for directly measuring band structures, and apply it to a spin-1 spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate. In our technique, we suddenly change the Hamiltonian of the system by adding a spin-orbit coupling interaction and measure populations in different spin states during the subsequent unitary evolution. We then reconstruct the spin and momentum resolved spectrum from the peak frequencies of the Fourier transformed populations. In addition, by periodically modulating the Hamiltonian, we tune the spin-orbit coupling strength and use our spectroscopy technique to probe the resulting dispersion relation. The frequency resolution of our method is limited only by the coherent evolution timescale of the Hamiltonian and can otherwise be applied to any system, for example, to measure the band structure of atoms in optical lattice potentials.
RESUMEN
Phases of matter are characterized by order parameters describing the type and degree of order in a system. Here we experimentally explore the magnetic phases present in a near-zero temperature spin-1 spin-orbit-coupled atomic Bose gas and the quantum phase transitions between these phases. We observe ferromagnetic and unpolarized phases, which are stabilized by spin-orbit coupling's explicit locking between spin and motion. These phases are separated by a critical curve containing both first- and second-order transitions joined at a tricritical point. The first-order transition, with observed width as small as h × 4 Hz, gives rise to long-lived metastable states. These measurements are all in agreement with theory.