Magnetic monopoles and synthetic spin-orbit coupling in Rydberg macrodimers

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the emergence of synthetic magnetic monopoles and spin-orbit coupling in the relative motion of Rydberg atom pairs, revealing novel gauge fields and their effects on atomic dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a method to generate and observe Abelian and non-Abelian gauge fields, including magnetic monopoles, in Rydberg macrodimers through dipole interactions.

Findings

Presence of two magnetic monopoles at micron-scale distances

Deflection of atomic motion indicating effective magnetic fields

Realization of velocity-dependent spin-orbit coupling

Abstract

We show that sizeable Abelian and non-Abelian gauge fields arise in the relative motion of two dipole-dipole interacting Rydberg atoms. Our system exhibits two magnetic monopoles for adiabatic motion in one internal two-atom state. These monopoles occur at a characteristic distance between the atoms that is of the order of one micron. The deflection of the relative motion due to the Lorentz force gives rise to a clear signature of the effective magnetic field. In addition, we consider non-adiabatic transitions between two near-degenerate internal states and show that the associated gauge fields are non-Abelian. We present quantum mechanical calculations of this synthetic spin-orbit coupling and show that it realizes a velocity-dependent beamsplitter.