1 research outputs found
Three-Dimensional Spin-Orbit Coupling in a Trap
We investigate the properties of an atom under the influence of a synthetic
three-dimensional spin-orbit coupling (Weyl coupling) in the presence of a
harmonic trap. The conservation of total angular momentum provides a
numerically efficient scheme for finding the spectrum and eigenfunctions of the
system. We show that at large spin-orbit coupling the system undergoes
dimensional reduction from three to one dimension at low energies, and the
spectrum is approximately Landau level-like. At high energies, the spectrum is
approximately given by the three-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator. We
explore the properties of the ground state in both position and momentum space.
We find the ground state has spin textures with oscillations set by the
spin-orbit length scale