Synthetic Spin-Orbit Coupling in Two-level Cold Atoms
arXiv:1208.3005 · doi:10.1088/0256-307X/30/8/080301
Abstract
Synthetic spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in controlled quantum systems such as cold atoms or trapped ions has been of great interest. Here we show, both theoretically and computationally, a simplest realization of SOC using two-level cold atoms interacting with only one laser beam. The underlying mechanism is based upon the non-adiabatic nature of laser-atom interaction, with the Rabi frequency and atom's kinetic energy being comparable to each other. We use the Zitterbewegung (ZB) oscillation to further illustrate the effects of the synthesized SOC on the quantum dynamics of the two-level cold atoms. We expect our proposal to be of experimental interest in quantum simulation of SOC-related physics.
4 pages, a preliminary draft
References in corpus (16)
- Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films
- A spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate
- Spin-Orbit Coupled Degenerate Fermi Gases
- Spin-Injection Spectroscopy of a Spin-Orbit Coupled Fermi Gas
- Spin-Orbit Coupled Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensates
- Tunable gauge potential for neutral and spinless particles in driven lattices
- Non-Abelian gauge potentials for ultra-cold atoms with degenerate dark states
- Non-Abelian gauge fields and topological insulators in shaken optical lattices
- Dirac Equation and Quantum Relativistic Effects in a Single Trapped Ion
- Observing Zitterbewegung in Ultracold Atoms
- Effect of Induced Spin-Orbit Coupling for Atoms via Laser Fields
- Extremal transmission and beating effect of acoustic wave in two-dimensional sonic crystal
- Quasi-relativistic behavior of cold atoms in light fields
- Atomic Zitterbewegung
- Double and negative reflection of cold atoms in non-Abelian gauge potentials
- Converting Zitterbewegung Oscillation to Directed Motion