Interferometry of non-Abelian band singularities and Euler class topology

ORAL

Abstract

In systems with a real Bloch Hamiltonian band nodes can be characterised by a non-Abelian frame-rotation charge. The ability of these band nodes to annihilate pairwise is path dependent, since by braiding nodes in adjacent gaps the sign of their charges can be changed. Here, we theoretically construct and numerically confirm two concrete methods to experimentally probe these non-Abelian braiding processes and charges in ultracold atomic systems. We consider a coherent superposition of two bands that can be created by moving atoms through the band singularities at some angle in momentum space. Analyzing the dependency on the frame charges, we demonstrate an interferometry scheme passing through two band nodes, which reveals the relative frame charges and allows for measuring the multi-gap topological invariant. The second method relies on a single wavepacket probing two nodes sequentially, where the frame charges can be determined from the band populations. Our results present a feasible avenue for measuring non-Abelian charges of band nodes and the experimental verification of braiding procedures directly, which can be applied in a variety of settings including the recently discovered anomalous non-Abelian phases arising under periodic driving.

*We acknowledge funding from Clarendon Fund Merton College, Leverhulme Studentship; EPSRC grant EP/W00187X/1, EPSRC-ERC underwrite grant EP/X025829/1, Royal Society IES/R1/221060; Marie Sklodowska-Curie of the European Commission (893915) and Trinity College Cambridge.

Publication: arXiv:2401.01928

Presenters

  • Nur Ünal

    • University of Cambridge

Authors

  • Ollie Breach

    • University of Oxford
  • Robert-Jan Slager

    • University of Cambridge
  • Nur Ünal

    • University of Cambridge