Spin Hall Effects for Cold Atoms in a Light-Induced Gauge Potential

Abstract

We propose an experimental scheme to observe spin Hall effects with cold atoms in a light-induced gauge potential. Under an appropriate configuration, the cold atoms moving in a spatially varying laser field experience an effective spin-dependent gauge potential. Through numerical simulation, we demonstrate that such a gauge field leads to observable spin Hall currents under realistic conditions. We also discuss the quantum spin Hall state in an optical lattice.