Surface currents emerge in superconductors exposed to magnetic fields, and are a key signature of the Meissner effect. Analogously, chiral dynamics were observed in quantum simulators under synthetic Abelian gauge fields. This work implements a synthetic SU(2) gauge field in a spinful 1D ladder and studies the chiral dynamics. The non-Abelian nature is confirmed by observing the non-Abelian Aharonov-Bohm effect. The chiral current is spin-dependent and tunable, and different dynamic regimes are mapped out, revealing the competition between overlaying flux ladders with distinct spin compositions. The experiment demonstrates the impact of non-Abelian gauge fields on system dynamics.

Qian Liang, Zhaoli Dong, Hongru Wang, Hang Li, Zhaoju Yang, Jian-Song Pan, Wei Yi, Bo Yan