Berlin 2014 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 32: Poster: Quantum gases, ultracold atoms and molecules
Q 32.42: Poster
Wednesday, March 19, 2014, 16:30–18:30, Spree-Palais
A K-Rb setup for the creation of topological states in a honeycomb lattice — •Tracy Li1,2, Lucia Duca1,2, Martin Reitter1,2, Monika Schleier-Smith1,2, Josselin Bernadoff1,2, Henrik Lüschen1,2, Immanuel Bloch1,2, and Ulrich Schneider1,2 — 1Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität-München, München, Germany — 2Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany
We present an apparatus for studying topological states of a two-dimensional degenerate Fermi gas in a honeycomb lattice. In this double species experiment, fermonic 40K atoms are sympathetically cooled to quantum degeneracy in a bath of 87Rb atoms. The fermions are then adiabatically compressed into a single layer of a vertical 1D lattice.
The honeycomb lattice contains the well-known graphene band structure with two Dirac points in the lowest band. A variety of methods can be used to create a band gap at the Dirac points, changing the topology of the band structure. We plan to investigate both periodic modulations of the hopping amplitudes by modulating the lattice beam amplitudes and the creation of an optical flux lattice. In the former method, depending on the strength of the modulation, the system exhibits different topological phases with nonzero Chern number or nonzero winding number. In the latter method, a spatially varying Raman coupling is combined with a spin-dependent potential, creating a high magnetic flux system that is a good candidate for accessing the quantum Hall regime.
We present our plans for implementing this setup and characterizing its topological character and the current status of our experiment.