Fractional quantum Hall states of atoms in optical Lattices

Anders S. Sorensen, Eugene Demler, Mikhail D. Lukin

Published 2004-05-05, updated 2004-07-22Version 2

We describe a method to create fractional quantum Hall states of atoms confined in optical lattices. We show that the dynamics of the atoms in the lattice is analogous to the motion of a charged particle in a magnetic field if an oscillating quadrupole potential is applied together with a periodic modulation of the tunneling between lattice sites. We demonstrate that in a suitable parameter regime the ground state in the lattice is of the fractional quantum Hall type and we show how these states can be reached by melting a Mott insulator state in a super lattice potential. Finally we discuss techniques to observe these strongly correlated states.