Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2016) 131: 237
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2016-16237-9

Regular Article

de Haas-van Alphen oscillations for neutral atoms in electric fields

¹ Centro de Ciências e Tecnologia Agroalimentar, Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, 58840-000, Pombal, PB, Brazil
² Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Caixa Postal 5008, 58051-970, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil

^* e-mail: furtado@fisica.ufpb.br

Received: 22 April 2016
Accepted: 19 June 2016
Published online: 20 July 2016

Abstract

The de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) effect is well known as an oscillatory variation of the magnetization of conductors as a function of the inverse magnetic field and the frequency is proportional to the area of the Fermi surface. Here, we show that an analogous effect can occur for neutral atoms with a nonvanishing magnetic moment interacting with an electric field. Under an appropriate field-dipole configuration, the neutral atoms subject to a synthetic magnetic field arrange themselves in Landau levels. Using the Landau-Aharonov-Casher (LAC) theory, we obtain the energy eigenfunctions and eigenvalues as well as the degeneracy of the system. In a strong effective magnetic field regime we present the quantum oscillations in the energy and effective magnetization of a two-dimensional (2D) atomic gas. From the dHvA period we determine the area of the Fermi circle of the atomic cloud.