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Artificial gauge fields with ultracold neutral atoms

Published

Author(s)

Ian B. Spielman, Victor Galitski, Gediminas Juzeliunas

Abstract

Gauge fields are ubiquitous in nature. In the context of quantum electrodynamics, you may be familiar with the photon, that represents the dynamical gauge field mediating electromagnetic forces. In fact all elementary interactions are mediated by gauge fields. In material physics applied gauge fields in the form of laboratory magnetic fields are essential for realizing exotic quantum phenomena such as the quantum Hall effect. Furthermore in some strongly correlated systems, new dynamical gauge fields arise: yielding particles with exotic quantum statistics, known as anyons. This article tells the story of how to create artificial gauge fields – made on demand in the controlled laboratory setting – to realize both these naturally occurring phenomena, and new phenomena that occur nowhere else in nature.
Citation
Physics Today

Keywords

Artificial gauge fields

Citation

Spielman, I. , Galitski, V. and Juzeliunas, G. (2019), Artificial gauge fields with ultracold neutral atoms, Physics Today, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=925927 (Accessed November 6, 2024)

Issues

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Created January 1, 2019, Updated March 1, 2021