Emergence of Floquet edge states in the coupled Su–Schrieffer–Heeger model

Abstract

The emergence of non equilibrium topological phases in low dimensional systems offers an interesting route for material properties engineering. We analyze the dynamical modulation of two coupled one-dimensional chains, described by the Su–Schrieffer–Heeger model. We find that the interplay of driving interactions and interchain coupling leads to the emergence of non-equilibrium edge states with nontrivial topological properties. Using an effective Hamiltonian approach, we quantify the emergent topological phases via the winding number and show that oscillations in the mean pseudospin polarization arise as a consequence of the periodic modulation. The patterns of these pseudospin oscillations are different for the static trivial and topological phases offering a dynamical means to distinguish both physical configurations. The system also exhibits non integer values of the winding number, which have been recently reported experimentally in connection to spin textures.