Topological lattice using multi-frequency radiation

We describe a novel technique for creating an artificial magnetic field for ultra-cold atoms using a periodically pulsed pair of counter propagating Raman lasers that drive transitions between a pair of internal atomic spin states: a multi-frequency coupling term. In conjunction with a magnetic field gradient, this dynamically generates a rectangular lattice with a non-staggered magnetic flux. For a wide range of parameters, the resulting Bloch bands have non-trivial topology, reminiscent of Landau levels, as quantified by their Chern numbers.Comment: Replaced with a revised version, 15 pages, 6 figure

Weak-Measurement-Induced Heating in Bose-Einstein Condensates

Ultracold atoms are an ideal platform for understanding system-reservoir dynamics of many-body systems. Here, we study quantum back-action in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates, weakly interacting with a far-from resonant, i.e., dispersively interacting, probe laser beam. The light scattered by the atoms can be considered as a part of quantum measurement process whereby the change in the system state derives from measurement back-action. We experimentally quantify the resulting back-action in terms of the deposited energy. We model the interaction of the system and environment with a generalized measurement process, leading to a Markovian reservoir. Further, we identify two systematic sources of heating and loss: a stray optical lattice and probe-induced light assisted collisions (an intrinsic atomic process). The observed heating and loss rates are larger for blue detuning than for red detuning, where they are oscillatory functions of detuning with increased loss at molecular resonances and reduced loss between molecular resonances.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2209.0440

Realistic Rashba and Dressehaus spin-orbit coupling for neutral atoms

We describe a new class of atom-laser coupling schemes which lead to spin-orbit coupled Hamiltonians for ultra-cold neutral atoms. By properly setting the optical phases, a pair of degenerate pseudospin states emerge as the lowest energy states in the spectrum, and are thus immune to collisionally induced decay. These schemes use $N$ cyclically coupled ground or metastable internal states. We specialize to two situations: a three level case giving fixed Rashba coupling, and a four-level case that adds a controllable Dresselhaus contribution. We describe an implementation of the four level scheme for \Rb87 and analyze the sensitivity of our approach to realistic experimental limitations and imperfections. Lastly, we argue that no laser coupling scheme can give pure Rashba or Dresselhaus coupling: akin to condensed matter systems, higher order terms spoil the symmetry of these couplings. However, for sufficiently intense laser fields the continuous rotational symmetry approximately holds, making the Rashba Hamiltonian applicable for cold atoms.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted as a PRA Brief Repor

Repeated Measurements with Minimally Destructive Partial-Transfer Absorption Imaging

We demonstrate partial-transfer absorption imaging as a technique for repeatedly imaging an ultracold atomic ensemble with minimal perturbation. We prepare an atomic cloud in a state that is dark to the imaging light. We then use a microwave pulse to coherently transfer a small fraction of the ensemble to a bright state, which we image using in situ absorption imaging. The amplitude or duration of the microwave pulse controls the fractional transfer from the dark to the bright state. For small transfer fractions, we can image the atomic cloud up to 50 times before it is depleted. As a sample application, we repeatedly image an atomic cloud oscillating in a dipole trap to measure the trap frequency.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Tunneling in the topological mechanism of superconductivity

We compute the two-particle matrix element and Josephson tunneling amplitude in a two-dimensional model of topological superconductivity which captures the physics of the doped Mott insulator. The hydrodynamics of topological electronic liquid consists of the compressible charge sector and the incompressible chiral topological spin liquid. We show that ground states differing by an odd number of particles are orthogonal and insertion of two extra electrons is followed by the emission of soft modes of the transversal spin current. The orthogonality catastrophe makes the physics of superconductivity drastically different from the BCS-theory but similar to the physics of one-dimensional electronic liquids. The wave function of a pair is dressed by soft modes. As a result the two particle matrix element forms a complex d-wave representation (i.e., changes sign under $90^o$ degree rotation), although the gap in the electronic spectrum has no nodes. In contrast to the BCS-theory the tunneling amplitude has an asymmetric broad peak (much bigger than the gap) around the Fermi surface. We develop an operator algebra, that allows one to compute other correlation functions.Comment: 18 pages, 2 eps figures, revtex, psfig, significant changes have been mad

Identification, Replication, and Functional Fine-Mapping of Expression Quantitative Trait Loci in Primary Human Liver Tissue

The discovery of expression quantitative trait loci (“eQTLs”) can help to unravel genetic contributions to complex traits. We identified genetic determinants of human liver gene expression variation using two independent collections of primary tissue profiled with Agilent (n = 206) and Illumina (n = 60) expression arrays and Illumina SNP genotyping (550K), and we also incorporated data from a published study (n = 266). We found that ∼30% of SNP-expression correlations in one study failed to replicate in either of the others, even at thresholds yielding high reproducibility in simulations, and we quantified numerous factors affecting reproducibility. Our data suggest that drug exposure, clinical descriptors, and unknown factors associated with tissue ascertainment and analysis have substantial effects on gene expression and that controlling for hidden confounding variables significantly increases replication rate. Furthermore, we found that reproducible eQTL SNPs were heavily enriched near gene starts and ends, and subsequently resequenced the promoters and 3′UTRs for 14 genes and tested the identified haplotypes using luciferase assays. For three genes, significant haplotype-specific in vitro functional differences correlated directly with expression levels, suggesting that many bona fide eQTLs result from functional variants that can be mechanistically isolated in a high-throughput fashion. Finally, given our study design, we were able to discover and validate hundreds of liver eQTLs. Many of these relate directly to complex traits for which liver-specific analyses are likely to be relevant, and we identified dozens of potential connections with disease-associated loci. These included previously characterized eQTL contributors to diabetes, drug response, and lipid levels, and they suggest novel candidates such as a role for NOD2 expression in leprosy risk and C2orf43 in prostate cancer. In general, the work presented here will be valuable for future efforts to precisely identify and functionally characterize genetic contributions to a variety of complex traits