Direct Measurement of the Zak phase in Topological Bloch Bands

ORAL

Abstract

In this talk I will present our latest results on the direct measurement of the Zak phase for a dimerized optical lattice, which models polyacetylene. The experimental protocol consists of a combination of Bloch oscillations and Ramsey interferometry from where we extract the Zak phase - the Berry phase acquired during an adiabatic motion of a particle across the Brillouin zone - which can be viewed as an invariant characterizing the topological properties of the band. This work establishes a new general approach for probing the topological structure of Bloch bands in optical lattices.

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Authors

  • Marcos Atala

    Fakult\"{a}t f\"{u}r Physik, Ludwig- Maximilians-Universit\"{a}t, Schellingstr. 4, 80799 Munich, Germany

  • Monika Aidelsburger

    Fakultaet fuer Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet, Munich, Germany, Fakult\"{a}t f\"{u}r Physik, Ludwig- Maximilians-Universit\"{a}t, Schellingstr. 4, 80799 Munich, Germany

  • Julio T. Barreiro

    Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Hans-Kopfermann Str. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany

  • Dmitry Abanin

    Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford Str., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA, Physics Department, Harvard University, Cambridge 02138, MA, USA

  • Takuya Kitagawa

    Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford Str., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

  • Eugene Demler

    Department of Physics, Harvard University, Department of Physics, Harvard University, 17 Oxford Str., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA, Physics Department, Harvard University, Cambridge 02138, MA, USA

  • Immanuel Bloch

    Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Hans-Kopfermann Str. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany