Dynamical spin-orbit coupling of a quantum gas in a cavity

Chuanzhou Zhu, Lin Dong, Han Pu

Wai Ho Tang, Shizhong Zhang

Tian-Shu Deng, Wei Zhang, Wei Yi +1 more

Ronen M. Kroeze, Yudan Guo, Benjamin Lev

We realize the dynamical 1D spin-orbit coupling (SOC) of a Bose-Einstein condensate confined within an optical cavity. The SOC emerges through spin-correlated momentum impulses delivered to the atoms via Raman transitions. These are effected by classical pump fields acting in concert with the quantum dynamical cavity field. Above a critical pump power, the Raman coupling emerges as the atoms superradiantly populate the cavity mode with photons. Concomitantly, these photons cause a backaction onto the atoms, forcing them to order their spin-spatial state. This SOC-inducing superradiant Dicke phase transition results in a spinor-helix polariton condensate. We observe emergent SOC through spin-resolved atomic momentum imaging and temporal heterodyne measurement of the cavity-field emission. Dynamical SOC in quantum gas cavity QED, and the extension to dynamical gauge fields, may enable the creation of Meissner-like effects, topological superfluids, and exotic quantum Hall states in coupled light-matter systems.

Victor M. Galitski, Ian B. Spielman

Stefan Ostermann, Helmut Ritsch, Farokh Mivehvar

We explore the many-body phases of a two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate with cavity-mediated dynamic spin-orbit coupling. With the help of two transverse noninterfering, counterpropagating pump lasers and a single standing-wave cavity mode, two degenerate Zeeman sub-levels of the quantum gas are Raman coupled in a double-$\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$-configuration. Beyond a critical pump strength the cavity mode is populated via coherent superradiant Raman scattering from the two pump lasers, leading to the appearance of a dynamical spin-orbit coupling for the atoms. We identify three quantum phases with distinct atomic and photonic properties: the normal ``homogeneous'' phase, the superradiant ``spin-helix'' phase, and the superradiant ``supersolid spin-density-wave'' phase. The last exhibits an emergent periodic atomic density distribution with an orthorhombic centered rectangular-lattice structure due to the interplay between the coherent photon scattering into the resonator and the collision-induced momentum coupling. The transverse lattice spacing of the emergent crystal is set by the dynamic spin-orbit coupling.