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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 25: Poster: Quantum Optics and Photonics I

Q 25.23: Poster

Dienstag, 12. März 2019, 16:30–18:30, S Atrium Informatik

Topological light-matter defects as low-lying excitations of 1D optical atom-traps — •Kieran Fraser and Francesco Piazza — Max-Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems

We consider laser-driven neutral fermionic atoms coupled to the electromagnetic modes of a multimode optical waveguide. In the presence of a sharp Fermi surface in one spatial dimension, the system’s steady state spontaneously breaks translation invariance to form one of two possible dimerized crystalline patterns of atoms and light. Here we demonstrate that the low-lying excitations of this insulating phase are optical solitons with a size set by the inverse Fermi momentum creating a domain wall between two regions of opposite dimerization. Each defect is characterized by a Z2 topological quantum number and traps a fermion in an edge state. In a specific parameter regime that we identify, these hybrid light-matter defects are formally equivalent to those appearing in electron-phonon models. We propose optical transmission spectroscopy using waveguide modes as a means to non-destructively detect the defects. Some extensions to a driven-dissipative setup are considered.