Synthetic Spin-Orbit Coupling in Two-Level Cold Atoms

We theoretically and computationally show the simplest realization of SOC using two-level cold atoms interacting with only one laser beam. The underlying mechanism is based on the non-adiabatic nature of laser-atom interaction, with the Rabi frequency being not much larger than the kinetic energy of the atom. We use Zitterbewegung oscillation to further illustrate the effects of the synthesized SOC on the quantum dynamics of the two-level cold atoms. We expect our proposal to be of experimental interest in the quantum simulation of SOC-related physics.