Interactions Enable Thouless Pumping in a Nonsliding Lattice
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Date
2024-04
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Journal Article
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yes
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Abstract
A topological "Thouless"pump represents the quantized motion of particles in response to a slow, cyclic modulation of external control parameters. The Thouless pump, like the quantum Hall effect, is of fundamental interest in physics, because it links physically measurable quantities, such as particle currents, to geometric properties of the experimental system, which can be robust against perturbations and, thus, technologically useful. So far, experiments probing the interplay between topology and interparticle interactions have remained relatively scarce. Here, we observe a Thouless-type charge pump in which the particle current and its directionality inherently rely on the presence of strong interactions. Experimentally, we utilize a two-component Fermi gas in a dynamical superlattice which does not exhibit a sliding motion and remains trivial in the single-particle regime. However, when tuning interparticle interactions from zero to positive values, the system undergoes a transition from being stationary to drifting in one direction, consistent with quantized pumping in the first cycle. Remarkably, the topology of the interacting pump trajectory cannot be adiabatically connected to a noninteracting limit, highlighted by the fact that only one atom is transferred per cycle. Our experiments suggest that Thouless charge pumps are promising platforms to gain insights into interaction-driven topological transitions and topological quantum matter.
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published
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Volume
14 (2)
Pages / Article No.
21049
Publisher
American Physical Society
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Subject
Cold gases in optical lattices; Topological phases of matter; Hubbard model; Matrix product states
Organisational unit
03599 - Esslinger, Tilman / Esslinger, Tilman
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Funding
182650 - Interplay between Topology, Interactions and Dissipation in Driven Quantum Many-Body Systems (SNF)
212168 - Tailoring interactions in quantum matter (SNF)
209376 - Adiabatically pumping topologically protected quantum many-body systems (AdiaPump) (SNF)
742579 - Mass, heat and spin transport in interlinked quantum gases (EC)
212168 - Tailoring interactions in quantum matter (SNF)
209376 - Adiabatically pumping topologically protected quantum many-body systems (AdiaPump) (SNF)
742579 - Mass, heat and spin transport in interlinked quantum gases (EC)
Related publications and datasets
Is supplemented by: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000677657