Experimental realization of a fermionic spin-momentum lattice

TL;DR

This paper reports the experimental creation of a spin-momentum lattice in a Fermi gas using laser-induced couplings, enabling exploration of topological phenomena and synthetic magnetic fields in quantum simulations.

Contribution

It demonstrates a novel method to realize a spin-momentum lattice with three spin states, opening new avenues for simulating topological and magnetic effects in quantum gases.

Findings

Successful creation of a triangular spin-momentum lattice

Observation of lattice dynamics via spin- and momentum-resolved imaging

Potential to simulate high-uniformity synthetic magnetic fields

Abstract

We experimentally realize a spin-momentum lattice with a homogeneously trapped Fermi gas. The lattice is created via cyclically-rotated atom-laser couplings between three bare atomic spin states, and are such that they form a triangular lattice in a synthetic spin-momentum space. We demonstrate the lattice and explore its dynamics with spin- and momentum-resolved absorption imaging. This platform will provide new opportunities for synthetic spin systems and the engineering of topological bands. In particular, the use of three spin states in two spatial dimensions would allow the simulation of synthetic magnetic fields of high spatial uniformity, which would lead to ultra-narrow Chern bands that support robust fractional quantum Hall states.