Formation of a spin texture in a quantum gas coupled to a cavity

TL;DR

This paper reports the observation of cavity-mediated spin-dependent interactions in a multi-level atomic Bose-Einstein condensate strongly coupled to an optical cavity, leading to the formation of a spin texture.

Contribution

It demonstrates the formation of a spin texture in a quantum gas coupled to a cavity, highlighting the roles of scalar and vectorial polarizability components and opening avenues for gauge fields and spin-orbit coupling.

Findings

Observation of cavity-mediated spin-dependent interactions.

Identification of scalar and vectorial polarizability roles.

Formation of a spin texture beyond a critical coupling strength.

Abstract

We observe cavity mediated spin-dependent interactions in an off-resonantly driven multi-level atomic Bose-Einstein condensate that is strongly coupled to an optical cavity. Applying a driving field with adjustable polarization, we identify the roles of the scalar and the vectorial components of the atomic polarizability tensor for single and multi-component condensates. Beyond a critical strength of the vectorial coupling, we observe a spin texture in a condensate of two internal states, providing perspectives for global dynamic gauge fields and self-consistently spin-orbit coupled gases.