Spatial Coherence of Spin-Orbit-Coupled Bose Gases.

Spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates (SOBECs) exhibit two new phases of matter, now known as the stripe and plane-wave phases. When two interacting spin components of a SOBEC spatially overlap, density modulations with periodicity given by the spin-orbit coupling strength appear. In equilibrium, these components fully overlap in the miscible stripe phase and overlap only in a domain wall in the immiscible plane-wave phase. Here we probe the density modulation present in any overlapping region with optical Bragg scattering and observe the sudden drop of Bragg scattering as the overlapping region shrinks. Using an atomic analog of the Talbot effect, we demonstrate the existence of long-range coherence between the different spin components in the stripe phase and surprisingly even in the phase-separated plane-wave phase.

Second Chern number of a quantum-simulated non-Abelian Yang monopole.

Topological order is often quantified in terms of Chern numbers, each of which classifies a topological singularity. Here, inspired by concepts from high-energy physics, we use quantum simulation based on the spin degrees of freedom of atomic Bose-Einstein condensates to characterize a singularity present in five-dimensional non-Abelian gauge theories-a Yang monopole. We quantify the monopole in terms of Chern numbers measured on enclosing manifolds: Whereas the well-known first Chern number vanishes, the second Chern number does not. By displacing the manifold, we induce and observe a topological transition, where the topology of the manifold changes to a trivial state.

Laser spectroscopic probing of coexisting superfluid and insulating states of an atomic Bose-Hubbard system.

A system of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice has been regarded as an ideal quantum simulator for a Hubbard model with extremely high controllability of the system parameters. While making use of the controllability, a comprehensive measurement across the weakly to strongly interacting regimes in the Hubbard model to discuss the quantum many-body state is still limited. Here we observe a great change in the excitation energy spectra across the two regimes in an atomic Bose-Hubbard system by using a spectroscopic technique, which can resolve the site occupancy in the lattice. By quantitatively comparing the observed spectra and numerical simulations based on sum rule relations and a binary fluid treatment under a finite temperature Gutzwiller approximation, we show that the spectra reflect the coexistence of a delocalized superfluid state and a localized insulating state across the two regimes.

Control of resonant interaction between electronic ground and excited states.

We observe magnetic Feshbach resonances in a collision between the ground and metastable states of two-electron atoms of ytterbium (Yb). We measure the on-site interaction of doubly occupied sites of an atomic Mott-insulator state in a three-dimensional optical lattice as a collisional frequency shift in a high-resolution laser spectroscopy. The observed spectra are well fitted by a simple theoretical formula, in which two particles with an s-wave contact interaction are confined in a harmonic trap. This analysis reveals a wide variation of the interaction with a resonance behavior around a magnetic field of about 1.1 G for the energetically lowest magnetic sublevel of 170Yb, as well as around 360 mG for the energetically highest magnetic sublevel of 174Yb. The observed Feshbach resonance can only be induced by an anisotropic interatomic interaction. This scheme will open the door to a variety of studies using two-electron atoms with tunable interaction.

Submicron spatial modulation of an interatomic interaction in a Bose-Einstein condensate.

We demonstrate submicron spatial control of interatomic interactions in a Bose-Einstein condensate of ytterbium (Yb). A pulsed optical standing wave, tuned near an optical Feshbach resonance, varies the s-wave scattering length continuously across the standing wave pattern. The modulated mean-field energy with a spatial period every 278 nm is monitored by a diffraction pattern in a time-of-flight image. We observe a wide scattering length control of up to 250 nm. The demonstrated spatial modulation of the scattering length proves that high resolution control of atomic interactions is possible.

Realization of a SU(2)×SU(6) system of fermions in a cold atomic gas.

We report the realization of a novel degenerate Fermi mixture with an SU(2)×SU(6) symmetry in a cold atomic gas. We successfully cool the mixture of the two fermionic isotopes of ytterbium 171Yb with the nuclear spin I=1/2 and 173Yb with I=5/2 below the Fermi temperature T_{F} as 0.46TF for 171Yb and 0.54TF for 173Yb. The same scattering lengths for different spin components make this mixture featured with the novel SU(2)×SU(6) symmetry. The nuclear spin components are separately imaged by exploiting an optical Stern-Gerlach effect. In addition, the mixture is loaded into a 3D optical lattice to implement the SU(2)×SU(6) Hubbard model. This mixture will open the door to the study of novel quantum phases such as a spinor Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer-like fermionic superfluid.