2021/06/09 by Zejian Ren, Dong Liu, Ren, Zejian +11 · 18 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Condensed matter physics #Coupling (piping) #Dissipation #Dissipative system #FOS: Physical sciences #Fermion #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Parity (physics) #Physics #Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas) #Quantum Mechanics and Non-Hermitian Physics #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum mechanics #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Spin (aerodynamics) #Spin–orbit interaction #Topological Materials and Phenomena #Topological insulator #Topology (electrical circuits) #cond-mat.mes-hall #cond-mat.quant-gas #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2106.04874
published in arXiv (Cornell University) (Cornell University) · 8 pages, 4 figures with supplemenary information
openalex publication_date 2021/06/09 · arxiv created 2021/12/16 · arxiv updated 2021/12/17 · openalex created_date 2022/10/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Spin-orbit coupling is an essential mechanism underlying quantum phenomena such as the spin Hall effect and topological insulators. It has been widely studied in well-isolated Hermitian systems, but much less is known about the role dissipation plays in spin-orbit-coupled systems. Here, we implement dissipative spin-orbit-coupled bands filled with ultracold fermions, and observe parity-time symmetry breaking as a result of the competition between the spin-orbit coupling and dissipation. Tunable dissipation, introduced by state-selective atom loss, enables us to tune the energy gap and close it at the critical dissipation value, the so-called exceptional point. In the vicinity of the critical point, the state evolution exhibits a chiral response, which enables us to tune the spin-orbit coupling and dissipation dynamically, revealing topologically robust chiral spin transfer when the quantum state encircles the exceptional point. This demonstrates that we can explore non-Hermitian topological states with spin-orbit coupling.