No Arabic abstract
Combining physical and synthetic dimensions allows a controllable realization and manipulation of high dimensional topological states. In our work, we introduce two quasiperiodically driven 1D systems which enable tunable topological energy conversion between different driving sources. Using three drives, we realize a 4D quantum Hall state which allows energy conversion between two of the drives within the bulk of the 1D system. With only two drives, we achieve energy conversion between the two at the edge of the chain. Both effects are a manifestation of the effective axion electrodynamics in a 3D time-reversal invariant topological insulator. Furthermore, we explore the effects of disorder and commensurability of the driving frequencies, and show the phenomena is robust. We propose two experimental platforms, based on semiconductor heterostructures and ultracold atoms in optical lattices, in order to observe the topological energy conversion.
Starting with Carnot engine, the ideal efficiency of a heat engine has been associated with quasi-static transformations and vanishingly small output power. Here, we exactly calculate the thermodynamic properties of a isothermal heat engine, in which the working medium is a periodically driven underdamped harmonic oscillator, focusing instead on the opposite, anti-adiabatic limit, where the period of a cycle is the fastest time scale in the problem. We show that in that limit it is possible to approach the ideal energy conversion efficiency $eta=1$, with finite output power and vanishingly small relative power fluctuations. The simultaneous realization of all the three desiderata of a heat engine is possible thanks to the breaking of time-reversal symmetry. We also show that non-Markovian dynamics can further improve the power-efficiency trade-off.
The breakdown of the bulk-boundary correspondence in non-Hermitian (NH) topological systems is an open, controversial issue. In this paper, to resolve this issue, we ask the following question: Can a (global) topological invariant completely describe the topological properties of a NH system as its Hermitian counterpart? Our answer is no. One cannot use a global topological invariant (including non-Bloch topological invariant) to accurately characterize the topological properties of the NH systems. Instead, there exist a new type of topological invariants that are absence in its Hermitian counterpart -- the state dependent topological invariants. With the help of the state-dependent topological invariants, we develop a new topological theory for NH topological system beyond the general knowledge for usual Hermitian systems and obtain an exact formulation of the bulk-boundary correspondence, including state-dependent phase diagram, state-dependent phase transition and anomalous transport properties (spontaneous topological current). Therefore, these results will help people to understand the exotic topological properties of various non-Hermitian systems.
The bulk-boundary correspondence is a generic feature of topological states of matter, reflecting the intrinsic relation between topological bulk and boundary states. For example, robust edge states propagate along the edges and corner states gather at corners in the two-dimensional first-order and second-order topological insulators, respectively. Here, we report two kinds of topological states hosting anomalous bulk-boundary correspondence in the extended two-dimensional dimerized lattice with staggered flux threading. At 1/2-filling, we observe isolated corner states with no fractional charge as well as metallic near-edge states in the C = 2 Chern insulator states. At 1/4-filling, we find a C = 0 topologically nontrivial state, where the robust edge states are well localized along edges but bypass corners. These robust topological insulating states significantly differ from both conventional Chern insulators and usual high-order topological insulators.
Topological phases of matter are protected from local perturbations and therefore have been thought to be robust against decoherence. However, it has not been systematically explored whether and how topological states are dynamically robust against the environment-induced decoherence. In this Letter, we develop a theory for topological systems that incorporate dissipations, noises and thermal effects. We derive novelly the exact master equation and the transient quantum transport for the study of dissipative topological systems, mainly focusing on noninteracting topological insulators and topological superconductors. The resulting exact master equation and the transient transport current are also applicable for the systems initially entangled with environments. We apply the theory to the topological Haldane model (Chern insulator) and the quantized Majorana conductance to explore topological phases of matter that incorporate dissipations, noises and thermal effects, and demonstrate the dissipative dynamics of topological states.
Bulk-boundary correspondence, connecting the bulk topology and the edge states, is an essential principle of the topological phases. However, the bulk-boundary correspondence is broken down in general non-Hermitian systems. In this paper, we construct one-dimensional non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model with periodic driving that exhibits non-Hermitian skin effect: all the eigenstates are localized at the boundary of the systems, whether the bulk states or the zero and the $pi$ modes. To capture the topological properties, the non-Bloch winding numbers are defined by the non-Bloch periodized evolution operators based on the generalized Brillouin zone. Furthermore, the non-Hermitian bulk-boundary correspondence is established: the non-Bloch winding numbers ($W_{0,pi}$) characterize the edge states with quasienergies $epsilon=0, pi$. In our non-Hermitian system, a novel phenomenon can emerge that the robust edge states can appear even when the Floquet bands are topological trivial with zero non-Bloch band invariant, which is defined in terms of the non-Bloch effective Hamiltonian. We also show that the relation between the non-Bloch winding numbers ($W_{0,pi}$) and the non-Bloch band invariant ($mathcal{W}$): $mathcal{W}= W_{0}- W_{pi}$.