Optically induced conical intersections in traps for ultracold atoms and molecules

Abstract

We show that conical intersections can be created in laboratory coordinates by dressing a parabolic trap for ultracold atoms or molecules with a combination of optical and static magnetic fields. The resulting ring trap can support single-particle states with half-integer rotational quantization and many-particle states with persistent flow. Two well-separated atomic or molecular states are brought into near resonance by an optical field and tuned across each other with an inhomogeneous magnetic field. Conical intersections occur at the nodes in the optical field.