Abstract The past few years have seen fascinating progress in the creation and utilization of synthetic gauge fields for charge-neutral ultracold atoms. Whereas the synthesis of gauge fields in itself is readily interesting, it is more exciting to explore the new era that will be brought by the interplay between synthetic gauge fields and many other degrees of freedom of highly tunable ultracold atoms. This topical review surveys recent developments in using synthetic gauge fields to manipulate novel quantum phenomena that are not easy to access in other systems. We first summarize current experimental methods of creating synthetic gauge fields, including the use of Raman schemes, shaken lattices, and Raman-dressed lattices. We then discuss how synthetic gauge fields bring new physics to non-interacting systems, including degenerate single-particle ground states, quartic dispersions, topological band structures in lattices, and synthetic dimensions. As for interacting systems, we focus on novel quantum many-body states and quantum macroscopic phenomena induced by interactions in the presence of unconventional single-particle dispersions. For bosons, we discuss how a quartic dispersion leads to non-condensed bosonic states at low temperatures and at the ground state. For fermions, we discuss chiral superfluids in the presence of attractive s-wave interaction, where high partial-wave interactions are not required. Finally, we discuss the challenges in current experiments, and conclude with an outlook for what new exciting developments synthetic gauge fields may bring us in the near future.Abstract The past few years have seen fascinating progress in the creation and utilization of synthetic gauge fields for charge-neutral ultracold atoms. Whereas the synthesis of gauge fields in itself is readily interesting, it is more exciting to explore the new era that will be brought by the interplay between synthetic gauge fields and many other degrees of freedom of highly tunable ultracold atoms. This topical review surveys recent developments in using synthetic gauge fields to manipulate novel quantum phenomena that are not easy to access in other systems. We first summarize current experimental methods of creating synthetic gauge fields, including the use of Raman schemes, shaken lattices, and Raman-dressed lattices. We then discuss how synthetic gauge fields bring new physics to non-interacting systems, including degenerate single-particle ground states, quartic dispersions, topological band structures in lattices, and synthetic dimensions. As for interacting systems, we focus on novel quantum many-body states and quantum macroscopic phenomena induced by interactions in the presence of unconventional single-particle dispersions. For bosons, we discuss how a quartic dispersion leads to non-condensed bosonic states at low temperatures and at the ground state. For fermions, we discuss chiral superfluids in the presence of attractive s-wave interaction, where high partial-wave interactions are not required. Finally, we discuss the challenges in current experiments, and conclude with an outlook for what new exciting developments synthetic gauge fields may bring us in the near future.

Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical PhysicsSep 13, 201722 citations

Engineering arbitrary synthetic gauge fields in multiple geometries

Fangzhao An, Eric Meier, Bryce Gadway

Bulletin of the American Physical SocietyJun 6, 20170 citations

Bose-Einstein Condensate on a Synthetic Topological Hall Cylinder

Chuan-Hsun Li, Yangqian Yan, Shih‐Wen Feng +4 more

The interplay between matter particles and gauge fields in physical spaces with nontrivial geometries can lead to novel topological quantum matter.However, detailed microscopic mechanisms are often obscure, and unconventional spaces are generally challenging to construct in solids.Highly controllable atomic systems can quantum simulate such physics, even those inaccessible in other platforms.Here, we realize a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) on a synthetic cylindrical surface subject to a net radial synthetic magnetic flux.We observe a symmetry-protected topological band structure emerging on this Hall cylinder but disappearing in the planar counterpart.BEC's transport observed as Bloch oscillations in the band structure is analogous to traveling on a Möbius strip in the momentum space, revealing topological band crossings protected by a nonsymmorphic symmetry.We demonstrate that breaking this symmetry induces a topological transition manifested as gap opening at band crossings, and further manipulate the band structure and BEC's transport by controlling the axial synthetic magnetic flux.Our work opens the door for using atomic quantum simulators to explore intriguing topological phenomena intrinsic in unconventional spaces.The interplay between matter particles and gauge fields in physical spaces with nontrivial geometries can lead to novel topological quantum matter.However, detailed microscopic mechanisms are often obscure, and unconventional spaces are generally challenging to construct in solids.Highly controllable atomic systems can quantum simulate such physics, even those inaccessible in other platforms.Here, we realize a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) on a synthetic cylindrical surface subject to a net radial synthetic magnetic flux.We observe a symmetry-protected topological band structure emerging on this Hall cylinder but disappearing in the planar counterpart.BEC's transport observed as Bloch oscillations in the band structure is analogous to traveling on a Möbius strip in the momentum space, revealing topological band crossings protected by a nonsymmorphic symmetry.We demonstrate that breaking this symmetry induces a topological transition manifested as gap opening at band crossings, and further manipulate the band structure and BEC's transport by controlling the axial synthetic magnetic flux.Our work opens the door for using atomic quantum simulators to explore intriguing topological phenomena intrinsic in unconventional spaces.

arXiv:1809.02122PRX QuantumJan 31, 202237 citations

Confinement-Tunable Synthetic Gauge Fields and Floquet Topological Phenomena in a Driven Quantum Wire Qubit

Dongmo Tedo Lynsia Saychele, Feulefack Ornela Claire, Danga Jeremie Edmond +6 more

Theoretical analysis indicates that a spin qubit in a parabolic quantum wire, when driven by a bichromatic field, generates a confinement-tunable non-Abelian synthetic gauge field that gives rise to novel Floquet topological phenomena. In the low-confinement regime, the system exhibits topological Landau-Zener (LZ) transitions, chiral Landau-Zener-St $\ddot{u}$ ckelberg-Majorana (LZSM) interference, and non-Abelian geometric phases around diabolical points. These features enable holonomic quantum computation, as well as unconventional Floquet Bloch oscillations and fractal spectra. In contrast, in the strong confinement regime, narrow avoided crossings significantly suppress cross-coupling, thereby insulating the qubit from multi-photon LZSM interference. Quantitative Floquet-Lindblad analysis shows that the optimized gate times, determined by the biharmonic driving period and non-Abelian parameter-space loops, are sufficiently short to surpass primary environmental decoherence channels. When applied to high-mobility $\text{GaAs/AlGaAs}$ core-shell nanowires, this approach converts spatial drives into robust non-Abelian gauge fields, positioning quantum wire systems as a versatile and scalable platform for fault-tolerant quantum information processing.Theoretical analysis indicates that a spin qubit in a parabolic quantum wire, when driven by a bichromatic field, generates a confinement-tunable non-Abelian synthetic gauge field that gives rise to novel Floquet topological phenomena. In the low-confinement regime, the system exhibits topological Landau-Zener (LZ) transitions, chiral Landau-Zener-St$\ddot{u}$ckelberg-Majorana (LZSM) interference, and non-Abelian geometric phases around diabolical points. These features enable holonomic quantum computation, as well as unconventional Floquet Bloch oscillations and fractal spectra. In contrast, in the strong confinement regime, narrow avoided crossings significantly suppress cross-coupling, thereby insulating the qubit from multi-photon LZSM interference. Quantitative Floquet-Lindblad analysis shows that the optimized gate times, determined by the biharmonic driving period and non-Abelian parameter-space loops, are sufficiently short to surpass primary environmental decoherence channels. When applied to high-mobility $\text{GaAs/AlGaAs}$ core-shell nanowires, this approach converts spatial drives into robust non-Abelian gauge fields, positioning quantum wire systems as a versatile and scalable platform for fault-tolerant quantum information processing.

cond-mat.mes-hallCross-listedarXiv:2601.13859Jan 21, 2026

\ddot{u}

ckelberg-Majorana (LZSM) interference, and non-Abelian geometric phases around diabolical points. These features enable holonomic quantum computation, as well as unconventional Floquet Bloch oscillations and fractal spectra. In contrast, in the strong confinement regime, narrow avoided crossings significantly suppress cross-coupling, thereby insulating the qubit from multi-photon LZSM interference. Quantitative Floquet-Lindblad analysis shows that the optimized gate times, determined by the biharmonic driving period and non-Abelian parameter-space loops, are sufficiently short to surpass primary environmental decoherence channels. When applied to high-mobility

\text{GaAs/AlGaAs}

core-shell nanowires, this approach converts spatial drives into robust non-Abelian gauge fields, positioning quantum wire systems as a versatile and scalable platform for fault-tolerant quantum information processing.