Non-Abelian optical lattices: anomalous quantum Hall effect and Dirac fermions.
We study the properties of an ultracold Fermi gas loaded in an optical square lattice and subjected to an external and classical non-Abelian gauge field. We show that this system can be exploited as an optical analogue of relativistic quantum electrodynamics, offering a remarkable route to access the exotic properties of massless Dirac fermions with cold atoms experiments. In particular, we show that the underlying Minkowski space-time can also be modified, reaching anisotropic regimes where a remarkable anomalous quantum Hall effect and a squeezed Landau vacuum could be observed.
Goldman
N
N
Center for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems-Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Code Postal 231, Campus Plaine, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Kubasiak
A
A
Bermudez
A
A
Gaspard
P
P
Lewenstein
M
M
Martin-Delgado
M A
MA