英国伯明翰大学Hannah M. Price团队研究了原子阱态合成维的拓扑手性边缘态。相关论文于2025年3月3日发表在《物理评论A》杂志上。

量子霍尔物理学的一个关键标志是在系统边界处存在拓扑手性态。通过使用不同的方法，在冷原子中实验观察到了这些边缘态的特征，特别是“合成维度”，其中内部态耦合在一起并被重新解释为沿人工空间维度的位点。然而，之前的原子合成维度实现仅限于具有不灵活边界的相对较小的系统大小。

研究组提出了如何使用原子阱态的合成维度来观察具有可调边缘的大型量子霍尔系统中的手性边缘态。他们对相关实验参数进行了数值模拟，展示了该方案如何用于探测边缘态对缺陷的性质和鲁棒性。该工作为未来的拓扑物理合成维度实验开辟了道路，同时也提供了操纵和控制高激发陷阱态的新方法。

附：英文原文

Title: Topological chiral edge states in a synthetic dimension of atomic trap states

Author: David G. Reid, Christopher Oliver, Patrick Regan, Aaron Smith, Thomas Easton, Grazia Salerno, Giovanni Barontini, Nathan Goldman, Hannah M. Price

Issue&Volume: 2025/03/03

Abstract: A key hallmark of quantum Hall physics is the existence of topological chiral states at the system boundary. Signatures of these edge states have been experimentally observed in cold atoms by using different approaches, including notably that of “synthetic dimensions” in which internal states are coupled together and reinterpreted as sites along an artificial spatial dimension. However, previous atomic synthetic dimension implementations have been limited to relatively small system sizes with inflexible boundaries. In this paper, we propose instead how to use a synthetic dimension of atomic trap states to observe chiral edge states in a large quantum Hall system with a tunable edge. We present numerical simulations for relevant experimental parameters, showing how this scheme may be used to probe the properties and robustness of the edge states to defects. Our work opens the way for future experiments in topological physics with synthetic dimensions, while also providing new ways to manipulate and control highly excited trap states.

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.111.033301

Source: https://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.111.033301