Observing chiral superfluid order by matter-wave interference.
Observing chiral superfluid order by matter-wave interference.
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DOI：
10.1103/physrevlett.114.115301
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发表时间：
2014-11
影响因子：
8.6
通讯作者：
T. Kock;M. Ölschläger;A. Ewerbeck;Wen-Min Huang;L. Mathey;Andreas Hemmerich
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
T. Kock;M. Ölschläger;A. Ewerbeck;Wen-Min Huang;L. Mathey;Andreas Hemmerich
通过自发形成手征序而导致的时间反演对称性破缺在自然界中普遍存在。在这里，我们提出了一个明确的证明这种现象的原子玻色爱因斯坦凝聚在第二布洛赫带的光学晶格。作为一个关键的工具，我们使用的物质波干涉技术，它可以让我们直接观察超流序参数的相位特性，并允许我们重建某些低能量激发的空间几何形状，与不同的手性域的形成。我们的工作标志着光学晶格的新时代，其中轨道自由度对于奇异量子物质的形成起着至关重要的作用，类似于电子系统。
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.