Observing Chiral Superfluid Order by Matter-Wave Interference

Abstract

The breaking of time reversal symmetry via the spontaneous formation of chiral order is ubiquitous in nature. Here, we present an unambiguous demonstration of this phenomenon for atoms Bose-Einstein condensed in the second Bloch band of an optical lattice. As a key tool we use a matter wave interference technique, which lets us directly observe the phase properties of the superfluid order parameter and allows us to reconstruct the spatial geometry of certain low energy excitations, associated with the formation of domains of different chirality. Our work marks a new era of optical lattices where orbital degrees of freedom play an essential role for the formation of exotic quantum matter, similarly as in electronic systems.

Main text & supplemental material, final version published in PRL

References in corpus (22)

• Many-Body Physics with Ultracold Gases
• Ultracold atomic gases in optical lattices: mimicking condensed matter physics and beyond
• Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless Crossover in a Trapped Atomic Gas
• Non-equilibrium coherence dynamics in one-dimensional Bose gases
• Orbital superfluidity in the $P$-band of a bipartite optical square lattice
• Atomic homodyne detection of continuous variable entangled twin-atom states
• Topological semimetal in a fermionic optical lattice
• Interference between independent fluctuating condensates
• Atomic matter of non-zero momentum Bose-Einstein condensation and orbital current order
• Unconventional Bose-Einstein Condensations Beyond the "No-node" Theorem
• Unconventional superfluid order in the $F$-band of a bipartite optical square lattice
• XYZ quantum Heisenberg models with p-orbital bosons
• Topologically induced avoided band crossing in an optical chequerboard lattice
• Interaction-induced chiral p_x \pm i p_y superfluid order of bosons in an optical lattice
• Time reversal symmetry breaking of $p$-orbital bosons in a one-dimensional optical lattice
• Complex and real unconventional Bose-Einstein condensations in high orbital bands
• Effective action approach to the p-band Mott insulator and superfluid transition
• Exotic phases of interacting p-band bosons
• Formation and detection of a chiral orbital Bose liquid in an optical lattice
• Multi-orbital bosons in bipartite optical lattices
• Phase-Sensitive Detection for Unconventional Bose-Einstein Condensations
• Renormalization group analysis of $p$-orbital Bose-Einstein condensates in a square optical lattice

Cited by in corpus (38)

• Many-Body Quantum Electrodynamics Networks: Non-Equilibrium Condensed Matter Physics with Light
• Physics of higher orbital bands in optical lattices: a review
• Evidence of Potts-Nematic Superfluidity in a Hexagonal $s{p}^2$ Optical Lattice
• Orbital optical lattices with bosons
• π-flux Dirac bosons and topological edge excitations in a bosonic chiral p-wave superfluid
• Formation of spontaneous density-wave patterns in DC driven lattices
• Detecting One-Dimensional Dipolar Bosonic Crystal Orders via Full Distribution Functions
• Nonlinear looped band structure of Bose-Einstein condensates in an optical lattice
• High-precision multiband spectroscopy of ultracold fermions in a nonseparable optical lattice
• Multi-frequency optical lattice for dynamic lattice-geometry control
• Rotation-symmetry-enforced coupling of spin and angular momentum for p-orbital bosons
• Orbital many-body dynamics of bosons in the second Bloch band of an optical lattice
• Intrinsic Anomalous Hall Effect in a Bosonic Chiral Superfluid
• Chiral orbital magnetism of $p$-orbital bosons in optical lattices
• Experimental realization of a high precision tunable hexagonal optical lattice
• Evidence for Quantum Stripe Ordering in a Triangular Optical Lattice
• Dynamics of Bose-Einstein Recondensation in Higher Bands
• Phases of d-orbital bosons in optical lattices
• Observation of Chiral-Mode Domains in a Frustrated XY Model on Optical Triangular Lattices
• Orbital hybridized topological Fulde-Ferrel superfluidity in a noncentrosymmetric optical lattice
• Metastable order protected by destructive many-body interference
• Spin-Induced Orbital Frustration in a Hexagonal Optical Lattice
• Crystalline Splitting of $d$ Orbitals in Regular Optical Lattices
• Intertwined Space-Time Symmetry, Orbital Magnetism and Dynamical Berry Curvature in a Circularly Shaken Optical Lattice
• Controlling higher-orbital quantum phases of ultracold atoms via coupling to optical cavities
• Intrinsic anomalous Hall effect across the magnetic phase transition of a spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate
• Emergence of the Unconventional Type-II Nambu-Goldstone Modes with Topological Origin in Bose Superfluids
• Collective P-Wave Orbital Dynamics of Ultracold Fermions
• Unconventional Bose-Einstein Condensation in a System of Two-species Bosons in the $p$-orbital Bands of a Bipartite Lattice
• Topological orbital superfluid with chiral d-wave order in a rotating optical lattice
• Making artificial ${\text{p}}_{x,y}$-orbital honeycomb electron lattice on metal surface
• Simulating the Palmer-Chalker state in an orbital superfluid
• Bose-Einstein condensation in a frustrated triangular optical lattice
• Emergent interlayer nodal superfluidity of a dipolar fermi gas in bilayer optical lattices
• Exotic Superfluid with Emergent flux in a one-dimensional Bose-Fermi mixture
• A toolbox for elementary fermions with a dipolar Fermi gas in a 3D optical lattice
• Chiral phases and dynamics of dipoles in triangular optical ladders
• Critical behavior of a chiral superfluid in a bipartite square lattice