Spin-Momentum Coupled Bose-Einstein Condensates with Lattice Band Pseudospins

Date

2016-02-29

ORCID

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

item.page.doi

Abstract

The quantum emulation of spin-momentum coupling, a crucial ingredient for the emergence of topological phases, is currently drawing considerable interest. In previous quantum gas experiments, typically two atomic hyperfine states were chosen as pseudospins. Here, we report the observation of a spin-momentum coupling achieved by loading a Bose-Einstein condensate into periodically driven optical lattices. The s and p bands of a static lattice, which act as pseudospins, are coupled through an additional moving lattice that induces a momentum-dependent coupling between the two pseudospins, resulting in s-p hybrid Floquet-Bloch bands. We investigate the band structures by measuring the quasimomentum of the Bose-Einstein condensate for different velocities and strengths of the moving lattice, and compare our measurements to theoretical predictions. The realization of spin-momentum coupling with lattice bands as pseudospins paves the way for engineering novel quantum matter using hybrid orbital bands.

Description

Keywords

Optical lattices, Bose-Einstein condensation, Lattice field theory

item.page.sponsorship

Funding waxs provided by NSF (Grant No. PHY-1306662). ARO (W911NF-12-1-0334) and AFOSR. (FA9550-13-1-0045

Rights

CC BY 4.0 (Attribution), ©2016 The Authors

Citation