The quantum Hall effect manifest itself when electrons are confined to two dimensions and immersed in a magnetic field: the electrical conductance takes precisely quantized values, and thanks to its robustness, this phenomenon has helped scientist in the new definition of the kilogram.

Nowadays, gases of ultracold atoms provide a powerful platform for easily controlling and engineering quantum systems. However, it is still challenging in these set-ups to measure how charges move. In recent experiments at ETH Zurich, researchers observed the transport of atoms along a 1D wire, but to measure the quantum Hall effect, one must somehow extend this setup to 2D and include the effects of an external magnetic field. This would allow the demonstration of the “cold-atomic quantum Hall effect” that is missing.

We propose to make use of an additional synthetic dimension, which is designed simply by shaking the wire. The resulting conductance measurement is then intrinsically out-of-equilibrium: this not only increases the possibilities offered by 1D atomic wires but also offers a particularly efficient probe for quantum-Hall physics in quantum-engineered matter.

This reaserch has just been published in Physical Review X! To read more click here.

ShakingTheWire