title: A solenoidal synthetic field and the non-Abelian Aharonov-Bohm effects in neutral atoms.
abstract: Cold neutral atoms provide a versatile and controllable platform for emulating various quantum systems. Despite efforts to develop artificial gauge fields in these systems, realizing a unique ideal-solenoid-shaped magnetic field within the quantum domain in any real-world physical system remains elusive. Here we propose a scheme to generate a "hairline" solenoid with an extremely small size around 1 micrometer which is smaller than the typical coherence length in cold atoms. Correspondingly, interference effects will play a role in transport. Despite the small size, the magnetic flux imposed on the atoms is very large thanks to the very strong field generated inside the solenoid. By arranging different sets of Laguerre-Gauss (LG) lasers, the generation of Abelian and non-Abelian SU(2) lattice gauge fields is proposed for neutral atoms in ring- and square-shaped optical lattices. As an application, interference patterns of the magnetic type-I Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect are obtained by evolving atoms along a circle over several tens of lattice cells. During the evolution, the quantum coherence is maintained and the atoms are exposed to a large magnetic flux. The scheme requires only standard optical access, and is robust to weak particle interactions.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117543.
authors.forename: Ming-Xia
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Huo
authors.affiliation: Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117543.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.affiliation: 1] Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117543 [2] Department of Physics, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: David A W
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Hutchinson
authors.affiliation: 1] Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117543 [2] National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616 [3] Institute of Advanced Studies, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang View, Singapore 639673.
authors.forename: Leong Chuan
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Kwek
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