We study bosonic atoms with two internal states in artificial gauge potentials whose strengths are different for the two components. A series of topological phases for such systems is proposed using the composite fermion theory and the parton construction. It is found in exact diagonalization that some of the proposed states may be realized for simple contact interaction between bosons. The ground states and low-energy excitations of these states are modeled using trial wave functions. The effective field theories for these states are also constructed and reveal some interesting properties.
We study bosonic atoms with two internal states in artificial gauge potentials whose strengths are different for the two components. A series of topological phases for such systems is proposed using the composite fermion theory and the parton construction. It is found in exact diagonalization that some of the proposed states may be realized for simple contact interaction between bosons. The ground states and low-energy excitations of these states are modeled using trial wave functions. The effective field theories for these states are also constructed and reveal some interesting properties.
We study strongly correlated phases of a pseudo-spin-21 Bose gas in an artificial gauge field using the exact diagonalization method. The atoms are confined in two dimensions and interact via a two-body contact potential. In Abelian gauge fields, pseudospin singlets are favored by pseudo-spin-independent interactions. We find a series of incompressible phases at fillings $\ensuremath{\nu}=2k/3$. By comparison with the non-Abelian spin singlet (NASS) states, constructed as zero-energy eigenstates of a (k+1)-body contact interaction, we classify the nontrivial topology of the states. An additional spin-orbit coupling is shown to switch between NASS-like states and spin-polarized phases from the Read-Rezayi series.
We investigate the feasibility of many candidate quantum Hall states for two-component bosons in the lowest Landau level. We identify interactions for which spin-singlet incompressible states occur at filling factors $\ensuremath{\nu}=2/3$, 4/5, and 4/3, and partially spin-polarized states at filling factors 3/4 and 3/2, where ``spin'' serves as a generic label for the two components. We study ground states, excitations, edge states, and entanglement spectrum for systems with up to 16 bosons and construct explicit trial wave functions to clarify the underlying physics. The composite fermion theory very accurately describes the ground states as well as excitations at $\ensuremath{\nu}=2/3$, 4/5, and 3/4, although it is less satisfactory for the $\ensuremath{\nu}=3/2$ state. For $\ensuremath{\nu}=4/3$ a ``non-Abelian spin-singlet'' state, which is the exact ground state of a three-body contact interaction, has been proposed to occur even for a two-body contact interaction; our trial wave functions are very accurate for the excitations of the three-body interaction, but they do not describe the excitations of the two-body interaction very well. Instead, we find that the $\ensuremath{\nu}=4/3$ state is more likely to be a spin-singlet state of reverse-flux-attached composite fermions at filling ${\ensuremath{\nu}}^{*}=4$. We also consider incompressible states at integral filling factors $\ensuremath{\nu}=1$ and 2. The incompressible state at $\ensuremath{\nu}=1$ is shown to be well described by the parton-based Jain spin-singlet wave function, and the incompressible state at $\ensuremath{\nu}=2$ as the spin-singlet state of reverse-flux-attached composite fermions at ${\ensuremath{\nu}}^{*}=2$, which provides an example of the bosonic integer topological phase.
We numerically investigate the quantum phases and phase transition in a system made of two species of fermionic atoms that interact with each other via s-wave Feshbach resonance and are subject to rotation or a synthetic gauge field that puts the fermions at Landau level filling factor ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{f}=2$. We show that the system undergoes a continuous quantum phase transition from a ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{f}=2$ fermionic integer quantum Hall state formed by atoms to a ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{b}=1/2$ bosonic fractional quantum Hall state formed by bosonic diatomic molecules. In the disk geometry we use, these two different topological phases are distinguished by their different gapless edge excitation spectra, and the quantum phase transition between them is signaled by the closing of the energy gap in the bulk. Comparisons will be made with field-theoretical predictions and the case of p-wave pairing.
Topological phases of matter are usually realized in deconfined phases of gauge theories. In this context, confined phases with strongly fluctuating gauge fields seem to be irrelevant to the physics of topological phases. For example, the low-energy theory of the two-dimensional (2D) toric code model (i.e., the deconfined phase of Z2 gauge theory) is a $\text{U}(1)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\text{U}(1)$ Chern-Simons theory in which gauge charges (i.e., e and m particles) are deconfined and the gauge fields are gapped, while the confined phase is topologically trivial. In this paper, we point out a route to constructing exotic three-dimensional (3D) gapped fermionic phases in a confining phase of a gauge theory. Starting from a parton construction with strongly fluctuating compact $\text{U}(1)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\text{U}(1)$ gauge fields, we construct gapped phases of interacting fermions by condensing two linearly independent bosonic composite particles consisting of partons and $\text{U}(1)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\text{U}(1)$ magnetic monopoles. This can be regarded as a 3D generalization of the 2D Bais-Slingerland condensation mechanism. Charge fractionalization results from a Debye-H\"uckel--type screening cloud formed by the condensed composite particles. Within our general framework, we explore two aspects of symmetry-enriched 3D Abelian topological phases. First, we construct a new fermionic state of matter with time-reversal symmetry and $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Theta}}\ensuremath{\ne}\ensuremath{\pi}$, the fractional topological insulator. Second, we generalize the notion of anyonic symmetry of 2D Abelian topological phases to the charge-loop excitation symmetry (Charles) of 3D Abelian topological phases. We show that line twist defects, which realize Charles transformations, exhibit non-Abelian fusion properties.
Optical lattices with a complex-valued tunneling term have become a standard way of studying gauge-field physics with cold atoms. If the complex phase of the tunneling is made density dependent, such a system features even a self-interacting or dynamical magnetic field. In this paper we study the scenario of a few bosons in either a static or a dynamical gauge field by means of exact diagonalization. The topological structures are identified computing their Chern number. Upon decreasing the atom-atom contact interaction, the effect of the dynamical gauge field is enhanced, giving rise to a phase transition between two topologically nontrivial phases.
The present thesis studies a variety of cold atomic systems in artificial gauge fields. In the first part we focus on fractional quantum Hall effects, asking whether interesting topological states can be realized with cold atoms. We start by making a close connection to solid-state systems and first consider fermionic atoms with dipolar interactions. Assuming the system to be in the Laughlin state, we evaluate the energy gap in the thermodynamic limit as a measure for the robustness of the state. We show that it can be increased by additionally applying a non-Abelian gauge field squeezing the Landau levels. We then switch to bosonic systems with repulsive contact interactions. Artificial magnetic fields for cold bosons have extensively been discussed before in the context of rotating Bose gases. We follow a different approach where the gauge field is due to an atom-laser coupling. Thus, transitions between different dressed states have to be included. They are shown to break the cylindrical symmetry of the system. Modifying the Laughlin state and the Moore-Read state accordingly, we determine the parameter regimes where they are good representations for the ground state of the system obtained via exact diagonalization. One of the most interesting feature of fractional quantum Hall states is the anyonic behavior of their excitations. We therefore also study quasiholes in the Laughlin state and the modified Laughlin state. They are shown to posses anyonic properties, which become manifest even in small systems. Moreover, the dynamics of a single quasihole causes visible traces in the density of the system which allow to clearly distinguish the Laughlin regime from less correlated phases. In the latter, a sequence of collapses and revivals of the quasihole can be observed, which is absent in the Laughlin regime. Extending our study to bosonic systems with a pesudospin-1/2 degree of freedom, we discuss the formation of strongly correlated spin singlets. Strikingly, at filling v=4/3, the system is described by a state with non-Abelian excitations, which is constructed as the zero-energy ground state of repulsive three-body contact interactions. Systems with internal degrees of freedom also allow for implementing artificial spin-orbit coupling. It is shown to give rise to a variety of incompressible states. In the second part of the thesis, we concentrate on condensed system. Bose-Einstein condensates with spin-orbit coupling are shown to have a degeneracy on the mean-field level, which is lifted by quantum and thermal fluctuations. The system becomes experimentally feasible in three dimensions, where the condensate depletion remains finite, and thus allow for an experimental observation of this order-by-disorder mechanism. Finally, we study the influence of Abelian and non-Abelian gauge fields on the quantum phase transitions of bosons in a square optical lattice. Re-entrant superfluid phases and superfluids at finite momenta are interesting properties featured by such systems.