Dynamical Generation of Topological Magnetic Lattices for Ultracold Atoms

We propose a scheme to dynamically synthesize a space-periodic effective magnetic field for neutral atoms by time-periodic magnetic field pulses. When atomic spin adiabatically follows the direction of the effective magnetic field, an adiabatic scalar potential together with a geometric vector potential emerges for the atomic center-of-mass motion, due to the Berry phase effect. While atoms hop between honeycomb lattice sites formed by the minima of the adiabatic potential, complex Peierls phase factors in the hopping coefficients are induced by the vector potential, which facilitate a topological Chern insulator. With further tuning of external parameters, both a topological phase transition and topological flat bands can be achieved, highlighting realistic prospects for studying strongly correlated phenomena in this system. Our Letter presents an alternative pathway towards creating and manipulating topological states of ultracold atoms by magnetic fields.

High-precision Absolute Distance Measurements over a Long Range Based on Two Optoelectronic Oscillators

Absolute distance measurement (ADM) over a long range has been studied intensely over the last several decades, due to its important applications in large-scale manufacturing and outer space explorations [1-5]. Traditional absolute distance measurements utilize detection of time-of-flight information, detection of phase shift, or a combination of the two [6-17]. In this paper, we present a novel scheme for high-precision ADM over a long range based on frequency detection by using two optoelectronic oscillators (OEO) to convert distance information to frequency information. By taking advantage of accumulative magnification theory, the absolute error of the measured distance is magnified by about 2*10E5 times, which makes the precision of the measured distance significantly improved. In our experiments, the maximum error is 1.5 um at the emulated ~6 km distance, including the drift error of about 1 um in the air path due to the change in environmental conditions. In addition, the measurable distance using this scheme could be further extended. The highest relative measurement precision is 2*10E10 in our current system while the actual relative measurement precision of our experimental system is limited by the variation of atmospheric conditions and is about 4*10E9.