Optical Flux Lattices for Two-Photon Dressed States

TL;DR

This paper proposes a straightforward method to create optical flux lattices in ultracold atomic gases using two-photon dressed states, enabling the simulation of magnetic fields and exploration of quantum Hall phenomena.

Contribution

The scheme introduces a practical way to generate high-flux optical lattices with low energy bands for ultracold atoms, facilitating studies of strong correlation effects.

Findings

Flux lattices simulate magnetic fields with high flux density.

Atomic motion can deviate from adiabatic following, affecting interactions.

Potential to explore fractional quantum Hall physics in cold gases.

Abstract

We describe a simple scheme by which "optical flux lattices" can be implemented in ultracold atomic gases using two-photon dressed states. This scheme can be applied, for example, to the ground state hyperfine levels of commonly used atomic species. The resulting flux lattices simulate a magnetic field with high mean flux density, and have low energy bands analogous to the lowest Landau level. We show that in practical cases the atomic motion significantly deviates from the adiabatic following of one dressed state, and that this can lead to significant interactions even for fermions occupying a single band. Our scheme allows experiments on cold atomic gases to explore strong correlation phenomena related to the fractional quantum Hall effect, both for fermions and bosons.