Article Dans Une Revue Nature Communications Année : 2025

Experimental realization of a SU(3) color-orbit coupling in an ultracold gas

Résumé

Spin-orbit interaction couples the spin of a particle to its motion and leads to spin-induced transport phenomena such as spin-Hall effects and Chern insulators. In this work, we extend the concept of internal-external state coupling to higher internal symmetry, exploring features beyond the established spin-orbit regime. We couple suitable resonant laser beams to a gas of ultracold atoms, thereby inducing artificial SU(3) non-Abelian gauge fields that act on a degenerate ground state manifold comprised of three dark states. We demonstrate the inherent all-state connectivity of SU(3) systems by performing targeted geometric transformations. Then, we investigate color-orbit coupling, an extension of SU(2) spin-orbit coupling to SU(3) systems. We reveal a rich dynamical interplay between three distinct oscillation frequencies, which possesses interesting analogies with neutrino oscillations and quark mixing mechanisms. In the future, the system should provide a testbed for exploring topological properties of SU(3) systems.

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hal-05199292 , version 1 (07-08-2025)

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Chetan Madasu, Chirantan Mitra, Lucas Gabardos, Ketan Rathod, Thomas Zanon-Willette, et al.. Experimental realization of a SU(3) color-orbit coupling in an ultracold gas. Nature Communications, 2025, 16 (1), pp.8448. ⟨10.1038/s41467-025-63142-6⟩. ⟨hal-05199292⟩
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