No Arabic abstract
We show that scattering from the boundary of static, higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs) can be used to simulate the behavior of (time-periodic) Floquet topological insulators. We consider D-dimensional HOTIs with gapless corner states which are weakly probed by external waves in a scattering setup. We find that the unitary reflection matrix describing back-scattering from the boundary of the HOTI is topologically equivalent to a (D-1)-dimensional nontrivial Floquet operator. To characterize the topology of the reflection matrix, we introduce the concept of `nested scattering matrices. Our results provide a route to engineer topological Floquet systems in the lab without the need for external driving. As benefit, the topological system does not to suffer from decoherence and heating.
We study quantum noise in a nonequilibrium, periodically driven, open system attached to static leads. Using a Floquet Greens function formalism we show, both analytically and numerically, that local voltage noise spectra can detect the rich structure of Floquet topological phases unambiguously. Remarkably, both regular and anomalous Floquet topological bound states can be detected, and distinguished, via peak structures of noise spectra at the edge around zero-, half-, and full-drive-frequency. We also show that the topological features of local noise are robust against moderate disorder. Thus, local noise measurements are sensitive detectors of Floquet topological phases.
The topological characterization of nonequilibrium topological matter is highly nontrivial because familiar approaches designed for equilibrium topological phases may not apply. In the presence of crystal symmetry, Floquet topological insulator states cannot be easily distinguished from normal insulators by a set of symmetry eigenvalues at high symmetry points in the Brillouin zone. This work advocates a physically motivated, easy-to-implement approach to enhance the symmetry analysis to distinguish between a variety of Floquet topological phases. Using a two-dimensional inversion-symmetric periodically-driven system as an example, we show that the symmetry eigenvalues for anomalous Floquet topological states, of both first-order and second-order, are the same as for normal atomic insulators. However, the topological states can be distinguished from one another and from normal insulators by inspecting the occurrence of stable symmetry inversion points in their microscopic dynamics. The analysis points to a simple picture for understanding how topological boundary states can coexist with localized bulk states in anomalous Floquet topological phases.
We propose and analyze two distinct routes toward realizing interacting symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases via periodic driving. First, we demonstrate that a driven transverse-field Ising model can be used to engineer complex interactions which enable the emulation of an equilibrium SPT phase. This phase remains stable only within a parametric time scale controlled by the driving frequency, beyond which its topological features break down. To overcome this issue, we consider an alternate route based upon realizing an intrinsically Floquet SPT phase that does not have any equilibrium analog. In both cases, we show that disorder, leading to many-body localization, prevents runaway heating and enables the observation of coherent quantum dynamics at high energy densities. Furthermore, we clarify the distinction between the equilibrium and Floquet SPT phases by identifying a unique micromotion-based entanglement spectrum signature of the latter. Finally, we propose a unifying implementation in a one-dimensional chain of Rydberg-dressed atoms and show that protected edge modes are observable on realistic experimental time scales.
We report the theoretical discovery and characterization of higher-order Floquet topological phases dynamically generated in a periodically driven system with mirror symmetries. We demonstrate numerically and analytically that these phases support lower-dimensional Floquet bound states, such as corner Floquet bound states at the intersection of edges of a two-dimensional system, protected by the nonequilibrium higher-order topology induced by the periodic drive. We characterize higher-order Floquet topologies of the bulk Floquet Hamiltonian using mirror-graded Floquet topological invariants. This allows for the characterization of a new class of higher-order anomalous Floquet topological phase, where the corners of the open system host Floquet bound states with the same as well as with double the period of the drive. Moreover, we show that bulk vortex structures can be dynamically generated by a drive that is spatially inhomogeneous. We show these bulk vortices can host multiple Floquet bound states. This stirring drive protocol leverages a connection between higher-order topologies and previously studied fractionally charged, bulk topological defects. Our work establishes Floquet engineering of higher-order topological phases and bulk defects beyond equilibrium classification and offers a versatile tool for dynamical generation and control of topologically protected Floquet corner and bulk bound states.
Topological stability of the edge states is investigated for non-Hermitian systems. We examine two classes of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians supporting real bulk eigenenergies in weak non-Hermiticity: SU(1,1) and SO(3,2) Hamiltonians. As an SU(1,1) Hamiltonian, the tight-binding model on the honeycomb lattice with imaginary on-site potentials is examined. Edge states with ReE=0 and their topological stability are discussed by the winding number and the index theorem, based on the pseudo-anti-Hermiticity of the system. As a higher symmetric generalization of SU(1,1) Hamiltonians, we also consider SO(3,2) models. We investigate non-Hermitian generalization of the Luttinger Hamiltonian on the square lattice, and that of the Kane-Mele model on the honeycomb lattice, respectively. Using the generalized Kramers theorem for the time-reversal operator Theta with Theta^2=+1 [M. Sato et al., arXiv:1106.1806], we introduce a time-reversal invariant Chern number from which topological stability of gapless edge modes is argued.