Topological atom optics and beyond with knotted quantum wavefunctions

Atom optics, demonstrating optical phenomena with coherent matter waves, has seen significant advances with structured light fields exhibiting complex singularities and non-trivial topologies. This research investigates and experimentally creates knotted quantum wavefunctions in spinor Bose-Einstein condensates, showcasing non-trivial topologies. By coordinating orbital and spin rotations, various discrete symmetries are engineered in the combined spin and orbital degrees of freedom, creating wavefunctions mapping to a torus to form torus knots, Möbius strips, and a Solomon's knot. This work highlights the connections between symmetries and topologies of multicomponent atomic systems and vector optical fields—a realization of topological atom-optics.

Maitreyi Jayaseelan, Joseph D. Murphree, Justin T. Schultz, Janne Ruostekoski, Nicholas P. Bigelow