Realization of a Density-Dependent Peierls Phase in a Synthetic, Spin-Orbit Coupled Rydberg System

Lienhard V, Scholl P, Weber S, Barredo D, De Leseleuc S, Bai R, Lang N, Fleischhauer M, Buechler HP, Lahaye T, Browaeys A (2020)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Journal

Physical Review X American Physical Society

Book Volume: 10

Article Number: 021031

Journal Issue: 2

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.10.021031

Abstract

We experimentally realize a Peierls phase in the hopping amplitude of excitations carried by Rydberg atoms, and observe the resulting characteristic chiral motion in a minimal setup of three sites. Our demonstration relies on the intrinsic spin-orbit coupling of the dipolar exchange interaction combined with time-reversal symmetry breaking by a homogeneous external magnetic field. Remarkably, the phase of the hopping amplitude between two sites strongly depends on the occupancy of the third site, thus leading to a correlated hopping associated with a density-dependent Peierls phase. We experimentally observe this density-dependent hopping and show that the excitations behave as anyonic particles with a nontrivial phase under exchange. Finally, we confirm the dependence of the Peierls phase on the geometrical arrangement of the Rydberg atoms.

Involved external institutions

École Polytechnique - Université Paris-Saclay FR France (FR) Universität Stuttgart DE Germany (DE) Technische Universität Kaiserslautern DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Lienhard, V., Scholl, P., Weber, S., Barredo, D., De Leseleuc, S., Bai, R.,... Browaeys, A. (2020). Realization of a Density-Dependent Peierls Phase in a Synthetic, Spin-Orbit Coupled Rydberg System. Physical Review X, 10(2). https://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.10.021031

MLA:

Lienhard, Vincent, et al. "Realization of a Density-Dependent Peierls Phase in a Synthetic, Spin-Orbit Coupled Rydberg System." Physical Review X 10.2 (2020).

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