Single-particle mobility edge without disorder

Abstract

The existence of localization and mobility edges in one-dimensional lattices is commonly thought to depend on disorder (or quasidisorder). We investigate localization properties of a disorder-free lattice subject to an equally spaced electric field. We analytically show that, even though the model has no quenched disorder, this system manifests an exact mobility edge and the localization regime extends to weak fields, in contrast to gigantic field for the localization of a usual Stark lattice. For strong fields, the Wannier-Stark ladder is recovered, and the number of localized eigenstates is inversely proportional to the spacing. Moreover, we study the time dependence of an initially localized excitation and dynamically probe the existence of mobility edge.