Generating topological optical flux lattices for ultracold atoms by modulated Raman and radio-frequency couplings (1607.01214v2)

Abstract: We propose a scheme to dynamically generate optical flux lattices with nontrivial band topology using amplitude-modulated Raman lasers and radio-frequency (rf) magnetic fields. By tuning the strength of Raman and rf fields, three distinct phases are realized at unit filling for a unit cell. Respectively, these three phases correspond to normal insulator, topological Chern insulator, and semimetal. Nearly nondispersive bands are found to appear in the topological phase, which promises opportunities for investigating strongly correlated quantum states within a simple cold-atom setup. The validity of our proposal is confirmed by comparing the Floquet quasienergies from the evolution operator with the spectrum of the effective Hamiltonian.