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We demonstrate a novel way of synthesizing spin-orbit interactions in ultracold quantum gases, based on a single-photon optical clock transition coupling two long-lived electronic states of two-electron 173Yb atoms. By mapping the electronic states onto effective sites along a synthetic “electronic” dimension, we have engineered fermionic ladders with synthetic magnetic flux in an experimental configuration that has allowed us to achieve uniform fluxes on a lattice with minimal requirements and unprecedented tunability. We have detected the spin-orbit coupling with fiber-link-enhanced clock spectroscopy and directly measured the emergence of chiral edge currents, probing them as a function of the flux. These results open new directions for the investigation of topological states of matter with ultracold atomic gases. L. F. Livi et al., |
Two electrons are better than one... In the Yb lab we produce Bose-Einstein condensates and degenerate Fermi gases of ytterbium atoms. These atoms offer metastable electronic states, ultranarrow clock transitions, multicomponent fermions with SU(N) interactions: a whole range of experimental tools that allow new possibilities for quantum simulation and quantum information processing.