Spontaneous light-mediated magnetism in cold atoms

Krešić, I. and Labeyrie, G. and Robb, G.R.M. and Oppo, G.-L. and Gomes, P.M. and Griffin, P. and Kaiser, R. and Ackemann, T. (2018) Spontaneous light-mediated magnetism in cold atoms. Communications Physics, 1. 33. ISSN 2399-3650 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-018-0034-3)

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Abstract

Cold atom setups are now commonly employed in simulations of condensed matter phenomena. We present a novel approach to induce strong magnetic interactions between atoms on a self-organized lattice using diffraction of light. Diffractive propagation of structured light fields leads to an exchange between phase and amplitude modulated planes which can be used to couple atomic degrees of freedom via optical pumping nonlinearities. In the experiment a cold cloud of Rb atoms placed near a retro-reflecting mirror is driven by a detuned pump laser. We demonstrate spontaneous magnetic ordering in the Zeeman sublevels of the atomic ground state: anti-ferromagnetic structures on a square lattice and ferrimagnetic structures on a hexagonal lattice in zero and a weak longitudinal magnetic field, respectively. The ordered state is destroyed by a transverse magnetic field via coherent dynamics. A connection to the transverse (quantum) Ising model is drawn.

ORCID iDs

Krešić, I., Labeyrie, G., Robb, G.R.M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3004-5926, Oppo, G.-L. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5376-4309, Gomes, P.M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8417-1231, Griffin, P. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0134-7554, Kaiser, R. and Ackemann, T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2727-7395;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:64773
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    10 July 2018
    Published
    8 June 2018
    Accepted
    2018
    Submitted
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:12 Jul 2018 11:12
    Last modified:27 Nov 2024 01:14
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/64773
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