Magnetically generated spin-orbit coupling for ultracold atoms
Quantum Gases
2013-09-24 v2 Atomic and Molecular Clusters
Abstract
We present a new technique for producing two- and three-dimensional Rashba-type spin-orbit couplings for ultracold atoms without involving light. The method relies on a sequence of pulsed inhomogeneous magnetic fields imprinting suitable phase gradients on the atoms. For sufficiently short pulse durations, the time-averaged Hamiltonian well approximates the Rashba Hamiltonian. Higher order corrections to the energy spectrum are calculated exactly for spin-1/2 and perturbatively for higher spins. The pulse sequence does not modify the form of rotationally symmetric atom-atom interactions. Finally, we present a straightforward implementation of this pulse sequence on an atom chip.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1306.2606,
title = {Magnetically generated spin-orbit coupling for ultracold atoms},
author = {Brandon M. Anderson and I. B. Spielman and Gediminas Juzeliūnas},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1306.2606},
year = {2013}
}