title: Magnetic monopoles and synthetic spin-orbit coupling in Rydberg macrodimers.
abstract: We show that sizable Abelian and non-Abelian gauge fields arise in the relative motion of two dipole-dipole interacting Rydberg atoms. Our system exhibits two magnetic monopoles for adiabatic motion in one internal two-atom state. These monopoles occur at a characteristic distance between the atoms that is of the order of one micron. The deflection of the relative motion due to the Lorentz force gives rise to a clear signature of the effective magnetic field. In addition, we consider nonadiabatic transitions between two near-degenerate internal states and show that the associated gauge fields are non-Abelian. We present quantum mechanical calculations of this synthetic spin-orbit coupling and show that it realizes a velocity-dependent beam splitter.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117543, Singapore.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kiffner
authors.forename: Wenhui
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jaksch