Ideal Weyl semimetal with 3D spin-orbit coupled ultracold quantum gas

• 作 者: Yue-Hui Lu Bao-Zong Wang Xiong-Jun Liu
• 机 构: International Center for Quantum Materials and School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871,
• 出 处: 科学通报（英文版）
• 发表日期: 2020年24期
• 关键词: Weyl semimetal Spin-orbit coupling Topological quantum phase Ultracold atoms Opt

There is an immense effort in search for various types of Weyl semimetals,of which the most fundamen-tal phase consists of the minimal number of i.e.two Weyl points,but is hard to engineer in solids.Here we demonstrate how such fundamental Weyl semimetal can be realized in a maneuverable optical Raman lattice,with which the three-dimensional(3D)spin-orbit(SO)coupling is synthesised for ultra-cold atoms.In addition,a new novel Weyl phase with coexisting Weyl nodal points and nodal ring is also predicted here,and is shown to be protected by nontrivial linking numbers.We further propose feasible techniques to precisely resolve 3D Weyl band topology through 2D equilibrium and dynamical measure-ments.This work leads to the first realization of the most fundamental Weyl semimetal band and the 3D SO coupling for ultracold quantum gases,which are respectively the significant issues in the condensed matter and ultracold atom physics.