Spielman, I.
, Zhao, E.
, Bray-Ali, N.
, Williams, C.
and Satija, I.
(2011),
Chern Numbers Hiding in Time-of-Flight Images, Physical Review Letters, [online], https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.84.063629
(Accessed October 17, 2025)
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Chern Numbers Hiding in Time-of-Flight Images
Published
Author(s)
, Erhai Zhao, Noah Bray-Ali, , Indubala Satija
Abstract
We present a novel technique for detecting topological invariants -- Chern numbers -- from time-of-flight images of ultra-cold neutral atoms. The Chern number of fermions in a lattice potential depends on magnetic field (for neutral atoms, generated by an artificial magnetic field) and the chemical potential; we find that the Chern numbers leave their fingerprints as oscillations in the atoms momentum distribution. The signature is strikingly enhanced for anisotropic hopping, where we show the momentum distribution assumes a sinusoidal form with period determined by the Chern number.Citation
Physical Review Letters
Volume
84
Pub Type
Journals
Download Paper
Keywords
artificial gauge fields, time-of-flight images, topological insulators, ultracold atoms
Citation
Issues
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Created December 21, 2011, Updated November 10, 2018