Abstract
We study how translationally invariant couplings between many-particle systems and nonequilibrium baths can be used to rectify particle currents, for which we consider minimal setups to realize bath-induced currents in nonequilibrium steady states of one-dimensional open fermionic systems. We first analyze dissipative dynamics associated with a nonreciprocal Lindblad operator and identify a class of Lindblad operators that are sufficient to acquire a unidirectional current. We show that unidirectional particle transport can, in general, occur when a Lindblad operator is reciprocal provided that the inversion symmetry and the time-reversal symmetry of the microscopic Hamiltonian are broken. We demonstrate this mechanism on the basis of both analytical and numerical approaches, including the Rashba spin-orbit coupling and the Zeeman magnetic field.Received 2 September 2020Revised 5 November 2020Accepted 23 November 2020DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.043343Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.Published by the American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasAtomic & molecular structureFermi gasesAtomic, Molecular & Optical
Highlights
In recent years, open quantum systems have been widely explored, as exemplified by driven-dissipative many-body systems [1,2,3,4,5] and non-Hermitian phenomena [6]
We show that unidirectional particle transport can, in general, occur when a Lindblad operator is reciprocal provided that the inversion symmetry and the time-reversal symmetry of the microscopic Hamiltonian are broken
We propose minimal setups to obtain a unidirectional particle transport in nonequilibrium steady states (NESSs) of one-dimensional open fermionic systems, where a nonequilibrium bath is uniformly coupled to the system and gives rise to homogeneous dissipation
Summary
Open quantum systems have been widely explored, as exemplified by driven-dissipative many-body systems [1,2,3,4,5] and non-Hermitian phenomena [6]. Experimental advances in controlling dissipation have allowed one to study nonequilibrium and non-Hermitian phenomena in trapped ions [22,23], photonics [24,25], ultracold atoms [26,27,28,29,30,31,32], and exciton-polariton systems [33,34,35,36,37,38] These remarkable developments have offered new opportunities for exploring intriguing phenomena unique to open quantum systems in homogeneous setups in contrast to, e.g., boundarydriven systems [39]. The present model is an intrinsically interacting many-body problem because the dissipator cannot, in general, be expressed in terms of quadratic annihilation/creation operators as detailed below
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