Martin Lebrat coauthored a controlled realization of the Haldane model with ultracold gases. Periodic lattice motion and an adjustable offset between neighboring sites independently controlled two symmetry-breaking effects.
The team located the topological transition by finding where the energy gap closed at a single Dirac point. This made the boundary between distinct quantum phases an experimentally measured relation between adjustable parameters.[ref]
Experimental realisation of the topological Haldane model by Gregor Jotzu and others. Abstract: competing controls and single-Dirac-point gap closure
Portrait of Martin Lebrat
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