Emulating topological currents arising from a dipolar parity anomaly in two-dimensional optical lattices

Abstract

Dipolar parity anomaly can be induced by spatiotemporally weak-dependent energy-momentum separation of paired Dirac points in two-dimensional Dirac semimetals. Here we reveal topological currents arising from this kind of anomaly. A corresponding lattice model is proposed to emulate the topological currents by using two-component ultracold atoms in a two-dimensional optical Raman lattice. In our scheme, the topological currents can be generated by varying on-site coupling between the two atomic components in time and tuned via the laser fields. Moreover, we show that the topological particle currents can directly be detected from measuring the drift of the center of mass of the atomic gases.