Abstract
We demonstrate how to create artificial external non-Abelian gauge potentials acting on cold atoms in optical lattices. The method employs atoms with internal states, and laser assisted state sensitive tunneling, described by unitary matrices. The single-particle dynamics in the case of intense vector potentials lead to a generalized Hofstadter butterfly spectrum which shows a complex mothlike structure. We discuss the possibility to realize non-Abelian interferometry (Aharonov-Bohm effect) and to study many-body dynamics of ultracold matter in external lattice gauge fields.
- Received 3 March 2005
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.010403
©2005 American Physical Society