Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 38: Quantengase: Optische Gitter 3
Q 38.7: Talk
Thursday, March 15, 2012, 12:15–12:30, V53.01
Gauge Field Induced Momentum Transport in an Optical Lattice — •Julian Struck1, Christoph Ölschläger1, Malte Weinberg1, Juliette Simonet1, André Eckardt2, Patrick Windpassinger1, and Klaus Sengstock1 — 1Institut für Laserphysik, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany — 2Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Noethnitzer Str. 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany
We present the experimental realization of a widely tuneable artificial gauge field for ultracold atoms in a one-dimensional optical lattice. We can simulate any Peierls phase ranging from zero to two π in the tunneling matrix elements between nearest neighbours by applying an external periodic force to the atoms which is time-irreversible. This way it is possible to prepare ground state superfluids as well as out-of-equilibrium states at arbitrary, finite quasi momentum.
We investigate the different time scales for adiabatic transport and relaxations mechanisms in the momentum space of the lattice. Extending these ideas to two-dimensional non-rectangular optical lattices it is possible to realize staggered magnetic field configurations with very large fluxes per plaquette.
These results represent a new step towards the emulation of strong field physics in optical lattices which may result in the realization of exotic phases like quantum hall states and other topological ordered phases with ultracold atoms.