Geometric squeezing into the lowest Landau level

Abstract

The equivalence between neutral particles under rotation and charged particles in a magnetic field relates phenomena as diverse as spinning atomic nuclei, weather patterns, and the quantum Hall effect. In their quantum descriptions, translations along different directions do not commute, implying a Heisenberg uncertainty relation between spatial coordinates. Here, we exploit the ability to squeeze non-commuting variables to dynamically create a Bose-Einstein condensate occupying a single Landau gauge wavefunction in the lowest Landau level. We directly resolve the extent of the zero-point cyclotron orbits, and demonstrate geometric squeezing of the orbits' guiding centers by more than ${7}~$dB below the standard quantum limit. The condensate attains an angular momentum of more than ${1000}\,{\hbar}$ per particle, and an interatomic distance comparable to the size of the cyclotron orbits. This offers a new route towards strongly correlated fluids and bosonic quantum Hall states.