Spin-tensor Meissner currents of ultracold bosonic gases in an optical lattice

We investigate the Meissner currents of interacting bosons subjected to a staggered artificial gauge field in a three-leg ribbon geometry, realized by spin-tensor-momentum coupled spin-1 atoms in a one-dimensional optical lattice. By calculating the current distributions using the state-of-the-art density-matrix renormalizationgroup method, we find a rich phase diagram containing interesting Meissner and vortex phases, where the currents are mirror symmetric with respect to the middle leg (i.e., they flow in the same direction on the two boundary legs, opposite to that on the middle leg), leading to spin-tensor-type Meissner currents, which is very different from previously observed chiral edge currents under uniform gauge field. The currents are uniform along each leg in the Meissner phase and form vortex-antivortex pairs in the vortex phase. Moreover, the system also supports a polarized phase that spontaneously breaks the mirror symmetry, whose ground states are degenerate with currents either being uniform or forming vortex-antivortex pairs. We also discuss the experimental schemes for probing these phases. Our work provides useful guidance for ongoing experimental research on synthetic flux ribbons and paves the way for exploring novel many-body phenomena therein.