Spinor condensates with a laser-induced quadratic Zeeman effect

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how a laser-induced quadratic Zeeman effect in $^{52}$Cr enables control over spinor condensate phases, facilitates topological defect creation, and allows for new quantum phenomena exploration.

Contribution

It introduces a method to generate an effective quadratic Zeeman effect via laser configurations, expanding control over spinor condensates and their phase transitions.

Findings

Effective quadratic Zeeman effect generated in $^{52}$Cr.

Rich ground-state phase diagram observed.

Potential for creating $S=1/2$ systems with spinor dynamics.

Abstract

We show that an effective quadratic Zeeman effect can be generated in $^{52}$Cr by proper laser configurations, and in particular by the dipole trap itself. The induced quadratic Zeeman effect leads to a rich ground-state phase diagram, can be used to induce topological defects by controllably quenching across transitions between phases of different symmetries, allows for the observability of the Einstein-de Haas effect for relatively large magnetic fields, and may be employed to create $S=1/2$ systems with spinor dynamics. Similar ideas could be explored in other atomic species opening an exciting new control tool in spinor systems.