Synthetic spin-orbit coupling in an optical lattice clock

TL;DR

This paper proposes using optical lattice clocks with fermionic alkaline-earth atoms to study spin-orbit coupling in many-body systems, leveraging high-resolution spectroscopy for momentum-resolved analysis and interaction probing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to observe and analyze spin-orbit coupling and atomic interactions using existing optical clock techniques with added lattice configurations.

Findings

Demonstrates momentum-resolved band tomography using clock spectroscopy

Shows how to determine SOC-induced s-wave collisions in fermions

Proposes a sliding superlattice for controlled atom transport and interaction probing

Abstract

We propose the use of optical lattice clocks operated with fermionic alkaline-earth-atoms to study spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in interacting many-body systems. The SOC emerges naturally during the clock interrogation when atoms are allowed to tunnel and accumulate a phase set by the ratio of the "magic" lattice wavelength to the clock transition wavelength. We demonstrate how standard protocols such as Rabi and Ramsey spectroscopy, that take advantage of the sub-Hertz resolution of state-of-the-art clock lasers, can perform momentum-resolved band tomography and determine SOC-induced $s$-wave collisions in nuclear spin polarized fermions. By adding a second counter-propagating clock beam a sliding superlattice can be implemented and used for controlled atom transport and as a probe of $p$ and $s$-wave interactions. The proposed spectroscopic probes provide clean and well-resolved signatures at current clock operating temperatures.