Observation of Bose–Einstein condensation in a strong synthetic magnetic field

Abstract

Extensions of Berry’s phase and the quantum Hall effect have led to the discovery of new states of matter with topological properties. Traditionally, this has been achieved using magnetic fields or spin–orbit interactions, which couple only to charged particles. For neutral ultracold atoms, synthetic magnetic fields have been created that are strong enough to realize the Harper–Hofstadter model. We report the first observation of Bose–Einstein condensation in this system and study the Harper–Hofstadter Hamiltonian with one-half flux quantum per lattice unit cell. The diffraction pattern of the superfluid state directly shows the momentum distribution of the wavefunction, which is gauge-dependent. It reveals both the reduced symmetry of the vector potential and the twofold degeneracy of the ground state. We explore an adiabatic many-body state preparation protocol via the Mott insulating phase and observe the superfluid ground state in a three-dimensional lattice with strong interactions. The Bose–Einstein condensation of ultracold atoms in a strong synthetic magnetic field in a cubic lattice realizes the Harper–Hofstadter model used in the study of topological states of matter.