Hidden nonsymmorphic symmetry in optical lattices with one-dimensional spin-orbit coupling

Abstract

We uncover the nonsymmorphic symmetry and investigate its effects on the noncollinear band structures of a quasi-two-dimensional optical lattice with synthetic one-dimensional spin-orbit coupling and a tunable Zeeman field. The perpendicular Zeeman field breaks time-reversal symmetry and lifts the Kramers degeneracy which is protected by time-reversal and generalized inversion symmetries. Interestingly, we find that the degeneracy of Bloch bands on the border of the Brillouin zone is immune to the Zeeman field. This degeneracy, reminiscent of that in nonsymmorphic crystals, is protected by the hidden glide-plane symmetry that comprises a physical reflection involving both spatial and spin degrees of freedom followed by a nonprimitive lattice translation. Furthermore, we show that the band degeneracy can be lifted by the glide-plane-symmetry-breaking lattice potential. Finally, we propose to detect these effects by measuring a dynamical structure factor with optical Bragg spectroscopy.