Cited by 1,318Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein CondensatesStrong Light-Matter InteractionsQuantum Mechanics and Non-Hermitian Physics

Synthetic magnetic fields for ultracold neutral atoms

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Lin, Y.-J., Compton, R. L., Jiménez-García, K., Porto, J. V., Spielman, I. B.·2009·Nature

Abstract

Neutral atomic Bose condensates and degenerate Fermi gases have been used to realize important many-body phenomena in their most simple and essential forms, without many of the complexities usually associated with material systems. However, the charge neutrality of these systems presents an apparent limitation-a wide range of intriguing phenomena arise from the Lorentz force for charged particles in a magnetic field, such as the fractional quantum Hall effect in two-dimensional electron systems. The limitation can be circumvented by exploiting the equivalence of the Lorentz force and the Coriolis force to create synthetic magnetic fields in rotating neutral systems. This was demonstrated by the appearance of quantized vortices in pioneering experiments on rotating quantum gases, a hallmark of superfluids or superconductors in a magnetic field. However, because of technical issues limiting the maximum rotation velocity, the metastable nature of the rotating state and the difficulty of applying stable rotating optical lattices, rotational approaches are not able to reach the large fields required for quantum Hall physics. Here we experimentally realize an optically synthesized magnetic field for ultracold neutral atoms, which is evident from the appearance of vortices in our Bose-Einstein condensate. Our approach uses a spatially dependent optical coupling between internal states of the atoms, yielding a Berry's phase sufficient to create large synthetic magnetic fields, and is not subject to the limitations of rotating systems. With a suitable lattice configuration, it should be possible to reach the quantum Hall regime, potentially enabling studies of topological quantum computation.

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  • The most advanced experiments with AQSs have been with ultracold atoms in optical lattices.

    “The most advanced experiments with AQSs have been with ultracold atoms in optical lattices [3, 5-15, 19, 71].”

    From Can one trust quantum simulators? (2012) · cites this paper as [5]

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [13]M. V. Berry, Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. A 392 , 45 (1984).

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Authors
Lin, Y.-J., Compton, R. L., Jiménez-García, K., Porto, J. V., & Spielman, I. B.
Affiliations
National Institute of Standards and Technology (US)
Corresponding author
Spielman, I. B.
Venue
Nature
Published
2009-12
Volume
462
Issue
7273
Pages
628-632
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W2035577930
Cited by
1,318
References
30
Citations by year
2026: 25 · 2025: 66 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 55 · 2021: 52 · 2020: 51 · 2019: 58 · 2018: 98 · 2017: 87 · 2016: 103 · 2015: 120 · 2014: 108 · 2013: 136 · 2012: 127
FWCI
48.34
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología
  • National Institute of Standards and Technology
  • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
  • Office of Naval Research
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Strong Light-Matter Interactions
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Quantum Mechanics and Non-Hermitian Physics
Keywords
synthetic magnetic field, ultracold neutral atoms, Bose-Einstein condensate, Berry phase, optical lattices, quantum Hall effect, quantized vortices, topological quantum computation, degenerate Fermi gas, Lorentz force, Coriolis force, spin-orbit coupling, spin-1/2 atoms

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