Simulating cyclotron-Bloch dynamics of a charged particle in a 2D lattice by means of cold atoms in driven quasi-1D optical lattices

Abstract

Quantum dynamics of a charged particle in a two-dimensional (2D) lattice subject to magnetic and electric fields is a rather complicated interplay between cyclotron oscillations (the case of vanishing electric field) and Bloch oscillations (zero magnetic field), details of which has not yet been completely understood. In the present work we suggest to study this problem by using cold atoms in optical lattices. We introduce a one-dimensional (1D) model which can be easily realized in laboratory experiments with quasi-1D optical lattices and show that this model captures many features of the cyclotron-Bloch dynamics of the quantum particle in 2D square lattices.

Keywords

optical lattice / Bloch dynamics / cyclotron oscillations / cold atoms

References

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[12] We note that in the experiment [6] the authors used a mirror to create the standing waves. In this work we assume the other scheme of the experimental setup, where the standing waves are formed by counter-propagating laser beams.

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