Observation of chiral edge states with neutral fermions in synthetic Hall ribbons

Understand

Chiral edge states are a hallmark of quantum Hall physics.

• In electronic systems, they appear as a macroscopic consequence of the cyclotron orbits induced by a magnetic field, which are naturally truncated at the physical boundary of the sample.
• Here we report on the experimental realization of chiral edge states in a ribbon geometry with an ultracold gas of neutral fermions subjected to an artificial gauge field.
• By imaging individual sites along a synthetic dimension, we detect the existence of the edge states, investigate the onset of chirality as a function of the bulk-edge coupling, and observe the edge-cyclotron orbits induced during a quench dynamics.