Seeing Topological Order in Time-of-Flight Measurements
Emilio Alba, Xavier Fernandez-Gonzalvo, Jordi Mur-Petit +2 more
In this Letter, we provide a general methodology to directly measure topological order in cold atom systems. As an application, we propose the realization of a characteristic topological model, introduced by Haldane, using optical lattices loaded with fermionic atoms in two internal states. We demonstrate that time-of-flight measurements directly reveal the topological order of the system in the form of momentum-space Skyrmions.
arXiv:1105.2775•Physical Review Letters•Nov 28, 2011•201 citations