Bose-Einstein Condensate in a light-induced vector potential using the 1064 nm optical dipole trap lasers

We present a simple experiment of creating an effective vector gauge potential for Bose-Einstein condensed $^{87}$Rb in the F=2 hyperfine ground state using two crossed 1064 $nm$ optical dipole trap lasers as the Raman beams. Due to the far-detuning from the single-photon resonance with the electronically excited state, the spontaneous emission is strongly reduced, at the same time, the moderate strength of the Raman coupling still can be achieved. The atoms at the far detuning of the Raman coupling are loaded adiabatically into the dressed states by ramping the homogeneous bias magnetic field to resonance and the different energy dressed states are studied. This experiment is easily extended to produce synthetic magnetic or electric field from a spatial or time dependence of the effective vector potential.