Charge Pumping of Interacting Fermion Atoms in the Synthetic Dimension

Routing light with different wavevectors using synthetic dimensions

Synthetic dimensions have drawn intense recent attention in investigating higher-dimensional topological physics and offering additional degrees of freedom for manipulating light. It has been demonstrated that synthetic dimensions can help to concentrate light with different frequencies at different locations. Here, we show that synthetic dimensions can also route light from different incident directions. Our system consists of an interface formed by two different photonic crystals. A synthetic dimension ξ is introduced by shifting the termination position of the photonic crystal on the right-hand side of the interface. We identify a correspondence between ξ and the interface state such that light incident from a specific direction can be collected. Thus, routing incident light from different directions is achieved by designing an interface with a proper distribution of ξ. Traditionally, this goal is achieved with a standard 4f optical system using a convex lens, and our approach offers the possibility for such a capability within a few lattice sites of photonic crystals. Such an approach reduces the size of the system, making it easier for integration. Our work provides, to our knowledge, a new direction for routing light with different momentums and possibly contributes to applications such as lidar.

Photonic Topological Spin Pump in Synthetic Frequency Dimensions

Reducing geometrical complexity while preserving desired wave properties is critical for proof-of-concept studies in wave physics, as evidenced by recent efforts to realize photonic synthetic dimensions, isospectrality, and hyperbolic lattices. Laughlin's topological pump, which elucidates quantum Hall states in cylindrical geometry with a radial magnetic field and a time-varying axial magnetic flux, is a prime example of these efforts. Here we propose a two-dimensional dynamical photonic system for the topological pumping of pseudospin modes by exploiting synthetic frequency dimensions. The system provides the independent control of pseudomagnetic fields and electromotive forces achieved by the interplay between mode-dependent and mode-independent gauge fields. To address the axial open boundaries and azimuthal periodicity of the system, we define the adjusted local Chern marker with rotating azimuthal coordinates, proving the nontrivial topology of the system. We demonstrate the adiabatic pumping for crosstalk-free frequency conversion with wave front molding. Our approach allows for reproducing Laughlin's thought experiment at room temperature with a scalable setup.

Intertwined topological phases induced by emergent symmetry protection

The dual role played by symmetry in many-body physics manifests itself through two fundamental mechanisms: spontaneous symmetry breaking and topological symmetry protection. These two concepts, ubiquitous in both condensed matter and high energy physics, have been applied successfully in the last decades to unravel a plethora of complex phenomena. Their interplay, however, remains largely unexplored. Here we report how, in the presence of strong correlations, symmetry protection emerges from a set of configurations enforced by another broken symmetry. This mechanism spawns different intertwined topological phases, where topological properties coexist with long-range order. Such a singular interplay gives rise to interesting static and dynamical effects, including interaction-induced topological phase transitions constrained by symmetry breaking, as well as a self-adjusted fractional pumping. This work paves the way for further exploration of exotic topological features in strongly-correlated quantum systems.

Band Gap Closing in a Synthetic Hall Tube of Neutral Fermions

We report the experimental realization of a synthetic three-leg Hall tube with ultracold fermionic atoms in a one-dimensional optical lattice. The legs of the synthetic tube are composed of three hyperfine spin states of the atoms, and the cyclic interleg links are generated by two-photon Raman transitions between the spin states, resulting in a uniform gauge flux ϕ penetrating each side plaquette of the tube. Using quench dynamics, we investigate the band structure of the Hall tube system for a commensurate flux ϕ=2π/3. Momentum-resolved analysis of the quench dynamics reveals a critical point of band gap closing as one of the interleg coupling strengths is varied, which is consistent with a topological phase transition predicted for the Hall tube system.

Topological bands for ultracold atoms

There have been significant recent advances in realizing band structures with geometrical and topological features in experiments on cold atomic gases. This review summarizes these developments, beginning with a summary of the key concepts of geometry and topology for Bloch bands. Descriptions are given of the different methods that have been used to generate these novel band structures for cold atoms and of the physical observables that have allowed their characterization. The focus is on the physical principles that underlie the different experimental approaches, providing a conceptual framework within which to view these developments. Also described is how specific experimental implementations can influence physical properties. Moving beyond single-particle effects, descriptions are given of the forms of interparticle interactions that emerge when atoms are subjected to these energy bands and of some of the many-body phases that may be sought in future experiments.

Spatial-Translation-Induced Discrete Time Crystals

A discrete time crystal is a phase unique to nonequilibrium systems, where discrete time translation symmetry is spontaneously broken. Most conventional time crystals proposed so far rely on the spontaneous breaking of on-site symmetries and their corresponding on-site symmetry operations. In this Letter, we propose a new time crystal dubbed the "spatial-translation-induced discrete time crystal," which is realized by spatial translation and its symmetry breaking. Owing to the properties of spatial translation, in this new time crystal, various time crystal orders can only emerge by changing the filling but not changing the driving protocol. We demonstrate that the local transport of charges or spins shows a nontrivial oscillation, enabling detection and applications of time crystal orders, and also provide promising platforms including quantum circuits. Our proposal opens up a new avenue of realizing time crystal orders by spatial translation in various quantum simulators.

Strong coupling phases of the spin-orbit-coupled spin-1 Bose-Hubbard chain: odd integer Mott lobes and helical magnetic phases

We study the odd integer filled Mott phases of a spin-1 Bose-Hubbard chain and determine their fate in the presence of a Raman induced spin-orbit coupling which has been achieved in ultracold atomic gases; this system is described by a quantum spin-1 chain with a spiral magnetic field. The spiral magnetic field initially induces helical order with either ferromagnetic or dimer order parameters, giving rise to a spiral paramagnet at large field. The spiral ferromagnet-to-paramagnet phase transition is in a novel universality class, with critical exponents associated with the divergence of the correlation length ν ≈ 2 / 3 and the order parameter susceptibility γ ≈ 1 / 2 . We solve the effective spin model exactly using the density matrix renormalization group, and compare with both a large-S classical solution and a phenomenological Landau theory. We discuss how these exotic bosonic magnetic phases can be produced and probed in ultracold atomic experiments in optical lattices.

Vortex-Hole Duality: A Unified Picture of Weak- and Strong-Coupling Regimes of Bosonic Ladders with Flux

Two-leg bosonic ladders with flux harbor a remarkable vortex-hole duality between the weak-coupling vortex lattice superfluids and strong-coupling charge-density-wave crystals. The strong-coupling crystalline states, which are realized in the vicinity of π flux, are independent of particle statistics, and are related to the incompressible fractional quantum Hall states in the thin-cylinder limit. These fully gapped ground states, away from π flux, develop nonzero chiral (spin) currents. Contact-interacting quantum gases permit exploration of this vortex-hole duality in experiments.

Dynamically Manipulating Topological Physics and Edge Modes in a Single Degenerate Optical Cavity

We propose a scheme to simulate topological physics within a single degenerate cavity, whose modes are mapped to lattice sites. A crucial ingredient of the scheme is to construct a sharp boundary so that the open boundary condition can be implemented for this effective lattice system. In doing so, the topological properties of the system can manifest themselves on the edge states, which can be probed from the spectrum of an output cavity field. We demonstrate this with two examples: a static Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain and a periodically driven Floquet topological insulator. Our work opens up new avenues to explore exotic photonic topological phases inside a single optical cavity.

Synthetic Dimensions with Magnetic Fields and Local Interactions in Photonic Lattices

We discuss how one can realize a photonic device that combines synthetic dimensions and synthetic magnetic fields with spatially local interactions. Using an array of ring cavities, the angular coordinate around each cavity spans the synthetic dimension. The synthetic magnetic field arises as the intercavity photon hopping is associated with a change of angular momentum. Photon-photon interactions are local in the periodic angular coordinate around each cavity. Experimentally observable consequences of the synthetic magnetic field and of the local interactions are pointed out.

Semisynthetic zigzag optical lattice for ultracold bosons

We propose a cold-atom realization of a zigzag ladder. The two legs of the ladder correspond to a "synthetic" dimension given by two internal (spin) states of the atoms, so that tunneling between them can be realized as a laser-assisted process. The zigzag geometry is achieved by employing a spin-dependent optical lattice with the site position depending on the internal atomic state, i.e., on the ladder's leg. The lattice offers a possibility to tune the single-particle dispersion from a double-well to a single-minimum configuration. In contrast to previously considered semisynthetic lattices with a square geometry, the tunneling in the synthetic dimension is accompanied by spatial displacements of atoms. Therefore, the atom-atom interactions are nonlocal and act along the diagonal (semisynthetic) direction. We investigate the ground-state properties of the system for the case of strongly interacting bosons. In particular, we find that the interplay between the frustration induced by the magnetic field and the interactions gives rise to an interesting gapped phase at fractional filling factors corresponding to one particle per magnetic unit cell.

Synthetic Dimensions and Spin-Orbit Coupling with an Optical Clock Transition

We demonstrate a novel way of synthesizing spin-orbit interactions in ultracold quantum gases, based on a single-photon optical clock transition coupling two long-lived electronic states of two-electron ^{173}Yb atoms. By mapping the electronic states onto effective sites along a synthetic "electronic" dimension, we have engineered fermionic ladders with synthetic magnetic flux in an experimental configuration that has allowed us to achieve uniform fluxes on a lattice with minimal requirements and unprecedented tunability. We have detected the spin-orbit coupling with fiber-link-enhanced clock spectroscopy and directly measured the emergence of chiral edge currents, probing them as a function of the flux. These results open new directions for the investigation of topological states of matter with ultracold atomic gases.

Geometrical Pumping with a Bose-Einstein Condensate

We realized a quantum geometric "charge" pump for a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in the lowest Bloch band of a novel bipartite magnetic lattice. Topological charge pumps in filled bands yield quantized pumping set by the global-topological-properties of the bands. In contrast, our geometric charge pump for a BEC occupying just a single crystal momentum state exhibits nonquantized charge pumping set by local-geometrical-properties of the band structure. Like topological charge pumps, for each pump cycle we observed an overall displacement (here, not quantized) and a temporal modulation of the atomic wave packet's position in each unit cell, i.e., the polarization.

Floquet topological semimetal phases of an extended kicked Harper model

Recent discoveries on topological characterization of gapless systems have attracted interest in both theoretical studies and experimental realizations. Examples of such gapless topological phases are Weyl semimetals, which exhibit three-dimensional (3D) Dirac cones (Weyl points), and nodal line semimetals, which are characterized by line nodes (two bands touching along a line). Inspired by our previous discoveries that the kicked Harper model exhibits many fascinating features of Floquet topological phases, in this paper we consider a generalization of the model, where two additional periodic system parameters are introduced into the Hamiltonian to serve as artificial dimensions, so as to simulate a 3D periodically driven system. We observe that by increasing the hopping strength and the kicking strength of the system, many new Floquet band touching points at Floquet quasienergies 0 and π will start to appear. Some of them are Weyl points, while the others form line nodes in the parameter space. By taking open boundary conditions along the physical dimension, edge states analogous to Fermi arcs in static Weyl semimetal systems are observed. Finally, by designing an adiabatic pumping scheme, the chirality of the Floquet-band Weyl points and the π Berry phase around Floquet-band line nodes can be manifested.

Topological Superfluid and Majorana Zero Modes in Synthetic Dimension

Recently it has been shown that multicomponent spin-orbit-coupled fermions in one-dimensional optical lattices can be viewed as spinless fermions moving in two-dimensional synthetic lattices with synthetic magnetic flux. The quantum Hall edge states in these systems have been observed in recent experiments. In this paper we study the effect of an attractive Hubbard interaction. Since the Hubbard interaction is long-range in the synthetic dimension, it is able to efficiently induce Cooper pairing between the counterpropagating chiral edge states. The topological class of the resultant one-dimensional superfluid is determined by the parity (even/odd) of the Chern number in the two-dimensional synthetic lattice. We also show the presence of a chiral symmetry in our model, which implies Z classification and the robustness of multiple zero modes when this symmetry is unbroken.