Observation of Floquet bands in driven spin-orbit-coupled Fermi gases

Abstract

Periodic driving of a quantum system can significantly alter its energy bands and even change the band topology, opening a completely new avenue for engineering novel quantum matter. Although important progress has been made recently in measuring topological properties of Floquet bands in different systems, direct experimental measurement of full Floquet band dispersions and their topology change is still demanding. Here we directly measure Floquet band dispersions in a periodically driven spin-orbit-coupled ultracold Fermi gas using spin-injection radio-frequency spectroscopy. We observe that the Dirac point originating from two-dimensional spin-orbit coupling can be manipulated to emerge at the lowest or highest two dressed bands by fast modulating Raman laser frequencies, demonstrating topological change of Floquet bands. Our work will provide a powerful tool for understanding fundamental Floquet physics as well as engineering exotic topological quantum matter.