Measuring the spin Chern number in time-reversal-invariant Hofstadter optical lattices

We propose an experimental scheme to directly measure the spin Chern number of the time-reversal-invariant Hofstadter model in optical lattices. We first show that this model can be realized by using ultracold Fermi atoms with two pseudo-spin states encoded by the internal Zeeman states in a square optical lattice and the corresponding topological Bloch bands are characterized by the spin Chern number. We then propose and numerically demonstrate that this topological invariant can be extracted from the shift of the hybrid Wannier center in the optical lattice. By spin-resolved in situ detection of the atomic densities along the transverse direction combined with time-of-flight measurement along another spatial direction, the spin Chern number in this system is directly measured.