Kardar-Parisi-Zhang Physics in the Density Fluctuations of Localized Two-Dimensional Wave Packets.

We identify the key features of Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class in the fluctuations of the wave density logarithm in a two-dimensional Anderson localized wave packet. In our numerical analysis, the fluctuations are found to exhibit an algebraic scaling with distance characterized by an exponent of 1/3, and a Tracy-Widom probability distribution of the fluctuations. Additionally, within a directed polymer picture of KPZ physics, we identify the dominant contribution of a directed path to the wave packet density and find that its transverse fluctuations are characterized by a roughness exponent 2/3. Leveraging on this connection with KPZ physics, we verify that an Anderson localized wave packet in 2D exhibits a stretched exponential correction to its well-known exponential localization.

Erratum: Observation of π/2 Modes in an Acoustic Floquet System [Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 254301 (2022)].

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.254301.

Coherent Control of Collective Spontaneous Emission through Self-Interference.

As one of the central topics in quantum optics, collective spontaneous emission such as superradiance has been realized in a variety of systems. This Letter proposes an innovative scheme to coherently control collective emission rates via a self-interference mechanism in a nonlinear waveguide setting. The self-interference is made possible by photon backward scattering incurred by quantum scatterers in a waveguide working as quantum switches. Whether the interference is constructive or destructive is found to depend strongly on the distance between the scatterers and the emitters. The interference between two propagation pathways of the same photon leads to controllable superradiance and subradiance, with their collective decay rates much enhanced or suppressed (also leading to hyperradiance or population trapping). Furthermore, the self-interference mechanism is manifested by an abrupt change in the emission rates in real time. An experimental setup based on superconducting transmission line resonators and transmon qubits is further proposed to realize controllable collective emission rates.

Observation of π/2 Modes in an Acoustic Floquet System.

Topological phases of matter have remained an active area of research in the last few decades. Periodic driving is a powerful tool for enriching such exotic phases, leading to various phenomena with no static analogs. One such phenomenon is the emergence of the elusive π/2 modes, i.e., a type of topological boundary state pinned at a quarter of the driving frequency. The latter may lead to the formation of Floquet parafermions in the presence of interaction, which is known to support more computational power than Majorana particles. In this Letter, we experimentally verify the signature of π/2 modes in an acoustic waveguide array, which is designed to simulate a square-root periodically driven Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model. This is accomplished by confirming the 4T-periodicity (T being the driving period) profile of an initial-boundary excitation, which we also show theoretically to be the smoking gun evidence of π/2 modes. Our findings are expected to motivate further studies of π/2 modes in quantum systems for potential technological applications.

On the Quantization of AB Phase in Nonlinear Systems.

Self-intersecting energy band structures in momentum space can be induced by nonlinearity at the mean-field level, with the so-called nonlinear Dirac cones as one intriguing consequence. Using the Qi-Wu-Zhang model plus power law nonlinearity, we systematically study in this paper the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) phase associated with an adiabatic process in the momentum space, with two adiabatic paths circling around one nonlinear Dirac cone. Interestingly, for and only for Kerr nonlinearity, the AB phase experiences a jump of π at the critical nonlinearity at which the Dirac cone appears and disappears (thus yielding π-quantization of the AB phase so long as the nonlinear Dirac cone exists), whereas for all other powers of nonlinearity, the AB phase always changes continuously with the nonlinear strength. Our results may be useful for experimental measurement of power-law nonlinearity and shall motivate further fundamental interest in aspects of geometric phase and adiabatic following in nonlinear systems.

Topological Switch for Non-Hermitian Skin Effect in Cold-Atom Systems with Loss.

We propose a realistic cold-atom quantum setting where topological localization induces nonreciprocal pumping. This is an intriguing non-Hermitian phenomenon that illustrates how topology, when assisted with atom loss, can act as a "switch" for the non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE), rather than as a passive property that is modified by the NHSE. In particular, we present a lattice-shaking scenario to realize a two-dimensional cold-atom platform, where nonreciprocity is switched on only in the presence of both atom loss and topological localization due to time-reversal symmetry breaking. The resultant nonreciprocal pumping is manifested by asymmetric dynamical evolution, detectable by atomic populations along the system edges. Our setup may trigger possible applications in nonreciprocal atomtronics, where loss and topological mechanisms conspire to control atomic transport. Its quantum nature will also facilitate future studies on the interplay between non-Hermiticity and many-body physics.

Hybrid Higher-Order Skin-Topological Modes in Nonreciprocal Systems.

Higher-order phases are characterized by corner or hinge modes that arise due to the interesting interplay of localization mechanisms along two or more dimensions. In this work, we introduce and construct a novel class of "hybrid" higher-order skin-topological boundary modes in nonreciprocal systems with two or more open boundaries. Their existence crucially relies on nonreciprocal pumping in addition to topological localization. Unlike usual non-Hermitian "skin" modes, they can exist in lattices with vanishing net reciprocity due to the selective nature of nonreciprocal pumping: While the bulk modes remain extended due to the cancellation of nonreciprocity within each unit cell, boundary modes experience a curious spontaneous breaking of reciprocity in the presence of topological localization, thereby experiencing the non-Hermitian skin effect. The number of possible hybridization channels increases rapidly with dimensionality, leading to a proliferation of distinct phases. In addition, skin modes or hybrid skin-topological modes can restore unitarity and are hence stable, allowing for experimental observations and manipulations in non-Hermitian photonic and electrical metamaterials.

Nonreciprocal Amplification with Four-Level Hot Atoms.

Optical nonreciprocity is of paramount importance to optical signal processing and one-way optical communication. Here, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate nonreciprocal amplification based on four-level hot atoms by exploiting atomic Doppler shifts. Our approach is simple and easy to implement. In fair agreement with our theoretical modeling, forward power amplification of 26 dB and backward isolation of 30 dB are observed. Our results will open up a new avenue towards realistic devices based on nonreciprocal amplification.

Simulation of Non-Abelian Braiding in Majorana Time Crystals.

Discrete time crystals have attracted considerable theoretical and experimental studies but their potential applications have remained unexplored. A particular type of discrete time crystals, termed "Majorana time crystals," is found to emerge in a periodically driven superconducting wire accommodating two different species of topological edge modes. It is further shown that one can manipulate different Majorana edge modes separated in the time lattice, giving rise to an unforeseen scenario for topologically protected gate operations mimicking braiding. The proposed protocol can also generate a magic state that is important for universal quantum computation. This study thus advances the quantum control in discrete time crystals and reveals their great potential arising from their time-domain properties.

Realistic Floquet Semimetal with Exotic Topological Linkages between Arbitrarily Many Nodal Loops.

Valence and conduction bands in nodal loop semimetals (NLSMs) touch along closed loops in momentum space. If such loops can proliferate and link intricately, NLSMs become exotic topological phases, which require nonlocal hopping and are therefore unrealistic in conventional quantum materials or cold atom systems alike. In this Letter, we show how this hurdle can be surmounted through an experimentally feasible periodic driving scheme. In particular, by tuning the period of a two-step periodic driving or certain experimentally accessible parameters, we can generate arbitrarily many nodal loops that are linked with various levels of complexity. Furthermore, we propose to use both a Berry-phase related winding number and the Alexander polynomial topological invariant to characterize the fascinating linkages among the nodal loops. This Letter thus presents a class of exotic Floquet topological phases that has hitherto not been proposed in any realistic setup. Possible experimental confirmation of such exotic topological phases is also discussed.

Floquet Mechanism for Non-Abelian Fractional Quantum Hall States.

Three-body correlations, which arise between spin-polarized electrons in the first excited Landau level, are believed to play a key role in the emergence of enigmatic non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effects. Inspired by recent advances in Floquet engineering, we investigate periodic driving of anisotropic two-body interactions as a route for controllably creating and tuning effective three-body interactions in the FQH regime. We develop an analytic formalism to describe this Floquet-FQH protocol, which is distinct from previous approaches that instead focus on band structure engineering via modulation of single-particle hopping terms. By systematically analyzing the resulting interactions using generalized pseudopotentials, we show that our Floquet-FQH approach leads to repulsive as well as attractive three-body interactions that are highly tunable and support a variety of non-Abelian multicomponent FQH states. Finally, we propose an implementation of the protocol in optically dressed ultracold polar molecules with modulated Rabi frequencies.

Experimental Observation of a Generalized Thouless Pump with a Single Spin.

Adiabatic cyclic modulation of a one-dimensional periodic potential will result in quantized charge transport, which is termed the Thouless pump. In contrast to the original Thouless pump restricted by the topology of the energy band, here we experimentally observe a generalized Thouless pump that can be extensively and continuously controlled. The extraordinary features of the new pump originate from interband coherence in nonequilibrium initial states, and this fact indicates that a quantum superposition of different eigenstates individually undergoing quantum adiabatic following can also be an important ingredient unavailable in classical physics. The quantum simulation of this generalized Thouless pump in a two-band insulator is achieved by applying delicate control fields to a single spin in diamond. The experimental results demonstrate all principal characteristics of the generalized Thouless pump. Because the pumping in our system is most pronounced around a band-touching point, this work also suggests an alternative means to detect quantum or topological phase transitions.

Intrinsic dynamical fluctuation assisted symmetry breaking in adiabatic following.

Classical adiabatic invariants in actual adiabatic processes possess intrinsic dynamical fluctuations. The magnitude of such intrinsic fluctuations is often thought to be negligible. This widely believed physical picture is contested here. For adiabatic following of a moving stable fixed-point solution facing a pitchfork bifurcation, we show that intrinsic dynamical fluctuations in an adiabatic process can assist in a deterministic selection between two symmetry-connected fixed-point solutions, with the outcome independent of the duration of the adiabatic process. Using a classical model Hamiltonian also relevant to a two-mode quantum system, we further demonstrate the formation of an adiabatic hysteresis loop in purely Hamiltonian mechanics and the generation of a Berry phase via changing one single-valued parameter only.

Critical dynamics of long-range quantum disordered systems.

Long-range hoppings in quantum disordered systems are known to yield quantum multifractality, the features of which can go beyond the characteristic properties associated with an Anderson transition. Indeed, critical dynamics of long-range quantum systems can exhibit anomalous dynamical behaviors distinct from those at the Anderson transition in finite dimensions. In this paper, we propose a phenomenological model of wave packet expansion in long-range hopping systems. We consider both their multifractal properties and the algebraic fat tails induced by the long-range hoppings. Using this model, we analytically derive the dynamics of moments and inverse participation ratios of the time-evolving wave packets, in connection with the multifractal dimension of the system. To validate our predictions, we perform numerical simulations of a Floquet model that is analogous to the power law random banded matrix ensemble. Unlike the Anderson transition in finite dimensions, the dynamics of such systems cannot be adequately described by a single parameter scaling law that solely depends on time. Instead, it becomes crucial to establish scaling laws involving both the finite size and the time. Explicit scaling laws for the observables under consideration are presented. Our findings are of considerable interest towards applications in the fields of many-body localization and Anderson localization on random graphs, where long-range effects arise due to the inherent topology of the Hilbert space.

Preferred states of decoherence under intermediate system-environment coupling.

The notion that decoherence rapidly reduces a superposition state to an incoherent mixture implicitly adopts a special representation, namely, the representation of preferred (pointer) states (PS). For weak or strong system-envrionment interaction, the behavior of PS is well known. Via a simple dynamical model that simulates a two-level system interacting with few other degrees of freedom as its environment, it is shown that even for intermediate system-environment coupling, approximate PS may still emerge from the coherent quantum dynamics of the whole system in the absence of any thermal averaging. The found PS can also continuously deform to expected limits for weak or strong system-environment coupling. Computational results are also qualitatively explained. The findings should be useful towards further understanding of decoherence and quantum thermalization processes.

Quantum hyperdiffusion in one-dimensional tight-binding lattices.

Transient quantum hyperdiffusion, namely, faster-than-ballistic wave packet spreading for a certain time scale, is found to be a typical feature in tight-binding lattices if a sublattice with on-site potential is embedded in a uniform lattice without on-site potential. The strength of the sublattice on-site potential, which can be periodic, disordered, or quasiperiodic, must be below certain threshold values for quantum hyperdiffusion to occur. This is explained by an energy band mismatch between the sublattice and the rest uniform lattice and by the structure of the underlying eigenstates. Cases with a quasiperiodic sublattice can yield remarkable hyperdiffusion exponents that are beyond three. A phenomenological explanation of hyperdiffusion exponents is also discussed.

Quantized adiabatic transport in momentum space.

Though topological aspects of energy bands are known to play a key role in quantum transport in solid-state systems, the implications of Floquet band topology for transport in momentum space (i.e., acceleration) have not been explored so far. Using a ratchet accelerator model inspired by existing cold-atom experiments, here we characterize a class of extended Floquet bands of one-dimensional driven quantum systems by Chern numbers, reveal topological phase transitions therein, and theoretically predict the quantization of adiabatic transport in momentum space. Numerical results confirm our theory and indicate the feasibility of experimental studies.

Time-periodic corner states from Floquet higher-order topology.

The recent discoveries of higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs) have shifted the paradigm of topological materials, previously limited to topological states at boundaries of materials, to include topological states at boundaries of boundaries, such as corners. So far, all HOTI realisations have been based on static systems described by time-invariant Hamiltonians, without considering the time-variant situation. There is growing interest in Floquet systems, in which time-periodic driving can induce unconventional phenomena such as Floquet topological phases and time crystals. Recent theories have attempted to combine Floquet engineering and HOTIs, but there has been no experimental realisation so far. Here we report on the experimental demonstration of a two-dimensional (2D) Floquet HOTI in a three-dimensional (3D) acoustic lattice, with modulation along a spatial axis serving as an effective time-dependent drive. Acoustic measurements reveal Floquet corner states with double the period of the underlying drive; these oscillations are robust, like time crystal modes, except that the robustness arises from topological protection. This shows that space-time dynamics can induce anomalous higher-order topological phases unique to Floquet systems.

Long-lasting exponential spreading in periodically driven quantum systems.

Using a dynamical model relevant to cold-atom experiments, we show that long-lasting exponential spreading of wave packets in momentum space is possible. Numerical results are explained via a pseudoclassical map, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Possible applications of our findings are also briefly discussed.

Simulation of chemical isomerization reaction dynamics on a NMR quantum simulator.

Quantum simulation can beat current classical computers with minimally a few tens of qubits. Here we report an experimental demonstration that a small nuclear-magnetic-resonance quantum simulator is already able to simulate the dynamics of a prototype laser-driven isomerization reaction using engineered quantum control pulses. The experimental results agree well with classical simulations. We conclude that the quantum simulation of chemical reaction dynamics not computable on current classical computers is feasible in the near future.