Fractional quantum Hall regime of a gas of ultracold atoms

We study the physics of a rapidly rotating gas of ultracold bosonic atoms. In the limit of very rapid rotation of the trap the system exhibits a fractional quantum Hall regime analogous to that of electrons in the fractional quantum Hall effect. We show that the ground state of the system is a 1/2-Laughlin liquid, a highly correlated atomic liquid. Exotic excitations consisting of localized quasiholes of 1/2 of an atom can be created by focusing lasers at the desired positions. We show how to manipulate these quasiholes in order to probe directly their 1/2-statistics. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.