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Direct probe of topological order for cold atoms

Dong-Ling Deng, Sheng-Tao Wang, and L.-M. Duan
Phys. Rev. A 90, 041601(R) – Published 6 October 2014
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Abstract

Cold-atom experiments in optical lattices offer a versatile platform to realize various topological quantum phases. A key challenge in those experiments is to unambiguously probe the topological order. We propose a method to directly measure the characteristic topological invariants (order) based on the time-of-flight imaging of cold atoms. The method is generally applicable to detection of topological band insulators in one, two, or three dimensions characterized by integer topological invariants. Using detection of the Chern number for the two-dimensional anomalous quantum Hall states and the Chern-Simons term for the three-dimensional chiral topological insulators as examples, we show that the proposed detection method is practical, and robust to typical experimental imperfections such as limited imaging resolution, inhomogeneous trapping potential, and disorder in the system.

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  • Received 4 July 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.90.041601

©2014 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Dong-Ling Deng*, Sheng-Tao Wang, and L.-M. Duan

  • Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA and Center for Quantum Information, IIIS, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China

  • *dldeng@umich.edu

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Issue

Vol. 90, Iss. 4 — October 2014

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