Spinor condensates with a laser-induced quadratic Zeeman effect

We show that an effective quadratic Zeeman effect can be generated in $^{52}$Cr by proper laser configurations, and in particular by the dipole trap itself. The induced quadratic Zeeman effect leads to a rich ground-state phase diagram, can be used to induce topological defects by controllably quenching across transitions between phases of different symmetries, allows for the observability of the Einstein-de Haas effect for relatively large magnetic fields, and may be employed to create $S=1/2$ systems with spinor dynamics. Similar ideas could be explored in other atomic species opening an exciting new control tool in spinor systems.