Fractional Topological States of Dipolar Fermions in One-Dimensional Optical Superlattices

We study the properties of dipolar fermions trapped in one-dimensional bichromatic optical lattices and show the existence of fractional topological states in the presence of strong dipole-dipole interactions. We find some interesting connections between fractional topological states in one-dimensional superlattices and the fractional quantum Hall states: (i) the one-dimensional fractional topological states for systems at filling factor nu = 1/p have p-fold degeneracy, (ii) the quasihole excitations fulfill the same counting rule as that of fractional quantum Hall states, and (iii) the total Chern number of p-fold degenerate states is a nonzero integer. The existence of crystalline order in our system is also consistent with the thin-torus limit of the fractional quantum Hall state on a torus. The possible experimental realization in cold atomic systems offers a new platform for the study of fractional topological phases in one-dimensional superlattice systems.