Optically synthesized magnetic field

When charged particles move in a magnetic field, gauge potentials arise and the effective Hamiltonian has a term containing the vector potential, A. Neutral atoms can also behave like charged particles if the container in rotated in a trapping magnetic fields. But recently, an optically synthesized magnetic field has been created where the neutral atoms experience an effective gauge potential without any rotation, similar to the case of charged particles in an electromagnetic field.

Please look at the following reference for details:

(1) http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v462/n7273/full/nature08609.html

(2) http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v102/i13/e130401

Note: This post is in progress.