Formation of optical flux lattices for ultra cold atoms

We explore the optical flux lattices produced for ultra-cold atoms in the radiation field when both the atom-light coupling and the detuning exhibit an oscillatory behavior. We analyze not only the magnetic flux but also the geometric vector potential generating the flux, as well as the accompanying geometric scalar potential. We show how to deal with the gauge-dependent singularities of the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) type appearing in the vector potentials for the optical flux lattices. We present a way to calculate the continuous magnetic flux through the elementary cell via the singularities of the vector potential inside the cell. The analysis is illustrated with a square optical flux lattice. We present a way of creating such a lattice using the Raman transitions induced by a set of properly chosen polarization-dependent standing waves propagating at a right angle and containing a time-phase difference.