TY - JOUR T1 - Realizing Fractional Chern Insulators with Dipolar Spins JF - Physical Review Letters Y1 - 2013 A1 - Norman Y. Yao A1 - Alexey V. Gorshkov A1 - Chris R. Laumann A1 - Andreas M. Läuchli A1 - Jun Ye A1 - Mikhail D. Lukin AB - Strongly correlated quantum systems can exhibit exotic behavior controlled by topology. We predict that the \nu=1/2 fractional Chern insulator arises naturally in a two-dimensional array of driven, dipolar-interacting spins. As a specific implementation, we analyze how to prepare and detect synthetic gauge potentials for the rotational excitations of ultra-cold polar molecules trapped in a deep optical lattice. While the orbital motion of the molecules is pinned, at finite densities, the rotational excitations form a fractional Chern insulator. We present a detailed experimental blueprint for KRb, and demonstrate that the energetics are consistent with near-term capabilities. Prospects for the realization of such phases in solid-state dipolar systems are discussed as are their possible applications. VL - 110 UR - http://arxiv.org/abs/1212.4839v1 CP - 18 J1 - Phys. Rev. Lett. U5 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.185302 ER -