Synthetic topological Kondo insulator in a pumped optical cavity

Abstract

Motivated by experimental advances on ultracold atoms coupled to a pumped optical cavity, we propose a scheme for synthesizing and observing the Kondo insulator in Fermi gases trapped in optical lattices. The synthetic Kondo phase arises from the screening of localized atoms coupled to mobile ones, which in our proposal is generated via the pumping laser as well as the cavity. By designing the atom–cavity coupling, it can engineer a nearest-neighbor-site Kondo coupling that plays an essential role for supporting topological Kondo phase. Therefore, the cavity-induced Kondo transition is associated with a nontrivial topological features, resulting in the coexistence of the superradiant and topological Kondo state. Our proposal can be realized with current technique, and thus has potential applications in quantum simulation of the topological Kondo insulator in ultracold atoms.