Chiral Dynamics of Ultracold Atoms under a Tunable SU(2) Synthetic Gauge Field

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Liang, Qian, Dong, Zhaoli, Wang, Hongru, Li, Hang, Yang, Zhaoju, Pan, Jian-Song, Yi, Wei, Yan, Bo
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866916477293035520
author Liang, Qian
Dong, Zhaoli
Wang, Hongru
Li, Hang
Yang, Zhaoju
Pan, Jian-Song
Yi, Wei
Yan, Bo
author_facet Liang, Qian
Dong, Zhaoli
Wang, Hongru
Li, Hang
Yang, Zhaoju
Pan, Jian-Song
Yi, Wei
Yan, Bo
contents Surface currents emerge in superconductors exposed to magnetic fields, and are a key signature of the Meissner effect. Analogously, chiral dynamics were observed in quantum simulators under synthetic Abelian gauge fields. The flexible control of these simulators also facilitates the engineering of non-Abelian gauge fields, but their impact on the chiral dynamics remains elusive. Here, by employing the cutting-edge momentum-lattice technique, we implement a synthetic SU(2) gauge field in a spinful 1D ladder and study the rich chiral dynamics therein. We confirm the non-Abelian nature of the synthetic potential by observing the non-Abelian Aharonov-Bohm effect on a single plaquette. More importantly, the chiral current along the two legs of the ladder is observed to be spin-dependent and highly tunable through the parameters of the gauge potential. We experimentally map out different dynamic regimes of the chiral current, and reveal the underlying competition between overlaying flux ladders with distinct spin compositions. Our experiment demonstrates the dramatic impact of non-Abelian gauge fields on the system dynamics, paving the way for future studies of exotic synthetic gauge fields on the versatile platform of momentum lattices.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_03612
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Chiral Dynamics of Ultracold Atoms under a Tunable SU(2) Synthetic Gauge Field
Liang, Qian
Dong, Zhaoli
Wang, Hongru
Li, Hang
Yang, Zhaoju
Pan, Jian-Song
Yi, Wei
Yan, Bo
Quantum Gases
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Atomic Physics
Surface currents emerge in superconductors exposed to magnetic fields, and are a key signature of the Meissner effect. Analogously, chiral dynamics were observed in quantum simulators under synthetic Abelian gauge fields. The flexible control of these simulators also facilitates the engineering of non-Abelian gauge fields, but their impact on the chiral dynamics remains elusive. Here, by employing the cutting-edge momentum-lattice technique, we implement a synthetic SU(2) gauge field in a spinful 1D ladder and study the rich chiral dynamics therein. We confirm the non-Abelian nature of the synthetic potential by observing the non-Abelian Aharonov-Bohm effect on a single plaquette. More importantly, the chiral current along the two legs of the ladder is observed to be spin-dependent and highly tunable through the parameters of the gauge potential. We experimentally map out different dynamic regimes of the chiral current, and reveal the underlying competition between overlaying flux ladders with distinct spin compositions. Our experiment demonstrates the dramatic impact of non-Abelian gauge fields on the system dynamics, paving the way for future studies of exotic synthetic gauge fields on the versatile platform of momentum lattices.
title Chiral Dynamics of Ultracold Atoms under a Tunable SU(2) Synthetic Gauge Field
topic Quantum Gases
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Atomic Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.03612