Synthetic Lorentz force on classical atomic gasses: experimental proof of concept

Neven Šantić, Tena Dubček, Damir Aumiler +2 more

Ticijana Ban, Neven Šantić, Tena Dubček +2 more

Y.-J. Lin, R. L. Compton, Karina Jiménez-García +3 more

Neven Šantić, Tena Dubček, Damir Aumiler +2 more

Synthetic magnetism in cold atomic gases opened the doors to many exciting novel physical systems and phenomena. Ubiquitous are the methods used for the creation of synthetic magnetic fields. They include rapidly rotating Bose-Einstein condensates employing the analogy between the Coriolis and the Lorentz force, and laser-atom interactions employing the analogy between the Berry phase and the Aharonov-Bohm phase. Interestingly, radiation pressure - being one of the most common forces induced by light - has not yet been used for synthetic magnetism. We experimentally demonstrate a synthetic Lorentz force, based on the radiation pressure and the Doppler effect, by observing the centre-of-mass motion of a cold atomic cloud. The force is perpendicular to the velocity of the cold atomic cloud, and zero for the cloud at rest. Our novel concept is straightforward to implement in a large volume, for a broad range of velocities, and can be extended to different geometries.

Neven Šantić, Tena Dubček, Damir Aumiler +2 more

We implement a synthetic Lorentz force in a cold atomic gas released from a magneto-optical trap. The signature of this is an angular deflection of a rotationally asymmetrical cloud. The effect is a consequence of thermal expansion of the cold atomic cloud under the influence of the applied synthetic Lorentz force. The synthetic Lorentz force is based on radiation pressure and the Doppler effect, making it straightforward to implement. The introduction of synthetic magnetism into our system, together with the fact that it is readily described by the Fokker–Planck equation, makes it an excellent candidate to emulate numerous complex classical systems.

V. N. Dubovik, V. I. Riazantsev