We have created a long-lived (≈40 s) persistent current in a toroidal Bose-Einstein condensate held in an all-optical trap. A repulsive optical barrier across one side of the torus creates a tunable weak link in the condensate circuit, which can affect …
Spin–orbit (SO) coupling—the interaction between a quantum particle’s spin and its momentum—is ubiquitous in physical systems. In condensed matter systems, SO coupling is crucial for the spin-Hall effect and topological insulators; it contributes to the electronic properties of materials such …
Yu-Ju Lin who has spent the past three years working on the artificial gauge fields project will be moving on to a permanent position at the Academia Sinica, Taiwan in November. We will miss you, and good luck!
Karina’s paper [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 110401 (2010)] featuring a fantastic measurement of the SF/MI phase transition in a 2D Bose-Hubbard system has been published in PRL. Our result is in agreement with QMC calculations with no adjustable parameters. This work …
Phases of a Two-Dimensional Bose Gas in an Optical Lattice Read more »
Ultracold atoms are an excellent system to realize important models in condensed matter physics, owing to its nearly disorder-free and tunable properties. One of the most intriguing topics is the quantum-Hall physics of 2D electronic systems in a strong magnetic …
Synthetic magnetic fields for ultracold neutral atoms Read more »
We experimentally investigate diffraction of a 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate from a one-dimensional optical lattice. We use a range of lattice periods and timescales, including those beyond the Raman-Nath limit. We compare the results to numerical solutions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation …
Rob Compton, working on the Feshbach resonance project on Rubidum II, lands permanent employment. He will be working for Honeywell in Minneapolis, MN!
We describe an apparatus for quickly and simply producing 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensates. It is based on a magnetic quadrupole trap and a red-detuned optical dipole trap. We collect atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) and then capture the atoms in …
A technique is described by which light-induced gauge potentials allow systems of ultracold neutral atoms to behave like charged particles in a magnetic field. Here, atoms move in a uniform laser field with a spatially varying Zeeman shift and experience …
We use a two-photon dressing field to create an effective vector gauge potential for Bose-Einstein-condensed 87Rb atoms in the F=1 hyperfine ground state. These Raman-dressed states are spin and momentum superpositions, and we adiabatically load the atoms into the lowest …
Bose-Einstein Condensate in a Uniform Light-Induced Vector Potential Read more »