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Particle number fractionilization of an atomic Fermi-Dirac gas in an optical lattice

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Article number180401
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>17/04/2002
<mark>Journal</mark>Physical review letters
Issue number18
Volume88
Number of pages4
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

We show that a dilute 2-species gas of Fermi-Dirac alkali-metal atoms in a periodic optical lattice may exhibit fractionization of particle number when the two components are coupled via a coherent electromagnetic field with a topologically nontrivial phase profile. This results in fractional eigenvalues of the spin operator with vanishing fluctuations. The fractional part can be accurately controlled by modifying the effective detuning of the electromagnetic field.