The internal degrees of freedom provided by ultracold atoms provide a route for realizing higher dimensional physics in systems with limited spatial dimensions. Nonspatial degrees of freedom in these systems are dubbed “synthetic dimensions.” This connection is useful from an …

Real-space mean-field theory of a spin-1 Bose gas in synthetic dimensions Read more »

We observed a new mechanism for vortex nucleation in Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) subject to synthetic magnetic fields. We made use of a strong synthetic magnetic field initially localized between a pair of merging BECs to rapidly create vortices in the …

Vortex nucleation in a Bose–Einstein condensate: from the inside out Read more »

Synthetic gauge fields for ultracold neutral atoms—engineered using the interaction between laser fields and the atoms’ internal ‘spin’ degrees of freedom—provide promising techniques for generating the large (synthetic) magnetic fields required to reach the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) limit in …

Tutorial: Synthetic gauge potentials for ultracold neutral atoms Read more »