Incommensurate Potential Research Articles

Robust Anderson transition in non-Hermitian photonic quasicrystals.

Anderson localization, i.e., the suppression of diffusion in lattices with a random or incommensurate disorder, is a fragile interference phenomenon that is spoiled out in the presence of dephasing effects or a fluctuating disorder. As a consequence, Anderson localization-delocalization phase transitions observed in Hermitian systems, such as in one-dimensional quasicrystals when the amplitude of the incommensurate potential is increased above a threshold, are washed out when dephasing effects are included. Here we consider localization-delocalization spectral phase transitions occurring in non-Hermitian (NH) quasicrystals with local incommensurate gain and loss and show that, contrary to the Hermitian case, the non-Hermitian phase transition is robust against dephasing effects. The results are illustrated by considering synthetic quasicrystals in photonic mesh lattices.

Inhibition of non-Hermitian topological phase transitions in sliding photonic quasicrystals.

Non-Hermitian (NH) quasicrystals have been a topic of increasing interest in current research, particularly in the context of NH topological physics and materials science. Recently, it has been suggested and experimentally demonstrated using synthetic photonic lattices that a class of NH quasicrystals can feature topological spectral phase transitions. Here we consider a NH quasicrystal with a uniformly-drifting (sliding) incommensurate potential and show that, owing to violation of Galilean invariance, the topological phase transition is washed out and the quasicrystal is always in the delocalized phase with an entirely real-energy spectrum. The results are illustrated by considering quantum walks in synthetic photonic lattices.

Dynamical phase transitions in dimerized lattices

Nonequilibrium evolution of the quantum states extend the notion of quantum phase transition to a dynamical scenario, corresponding to the singular behavior of Loschmidt echo in quenched systems. In this work, we uncover the signature of dynamical phase transition in a quenched Aubry–André model with dimerized hoppings. By investigating the Loschmidt echo, we find a dynamical phase transition originating from the interplay between dimerized hopping and the strength of incommensurate potential. The dimerized hoppings may cause a dynamical phase transition in the process of the quench dynamics between the prequenched and postquenched system Hamiltonians.

Topological properties in an Aubry–André–Harper model with p-wave superconducting pairing

Abstract We study the topological properties of the one-dimensional p-wave Aubry–André–Harper (AAH) model with periodic incommensurate potential and transition coupling. The calculation results show that due to co-influence of the incommensurate potential and modulation phase, three topological phases arise in different parameter regions: a topologically trivial phase, Su–Schrieffer–Heeger (SSH)-like topological phase, and Kitaev-like topological superconducting phase with Majorana zero modes. By evaluating the Andreev reflection conductance, we see that in the Kitaev-like phase, the quantized conductance plateau comes into being at the zero-bias limit, due to the occurrence of resonant Andreev reflection. In addition, when the disorder effect is incorporated, the SSH-like topology is modified sensitively and the degenerate topological states split, whereas the Kitaev-like topological phase is robust to weak disorder. Finally, we find that disorder can induce topological phase transition, i.e. from the topologically trivial phase to the topological phase. Based on these results, we believe that our findings have significance for studying the topological phase transition in a one-dimensional topological superconducting system. Also, it provides a feasible scheme for clarifying different topological phases.

Nematically Templated Vortex Lattices in Superconducting FeSe.

New pathways to controlling the morphology of superconducting vortex lattices─and their subsequent dynamics─are required to guide and scale vortex world-lines into a computing platform. We have found that the nematic twin boundaries align superconducting vortices in the adjacent terraces due to the incommensurate potential between vortices surrounding twin boundaries and those trapped within them. With the varying density and morphology of twin boundaries, the vortex lattice assumes several distinct structural phases, including square, regular, and irregular one-dimensional lattices. Through concomitant analysis of vortex lattice models, we have inferred the characteristic energetics of the twin boundary potential and furthermore predicted the existence of geometric size effects as a function of increasing confinement by the twin boundaries. These findings extend the ideas of directed control over vortex lattices to intrinsic topological defects and their self-organized networks, which have direct implications for the future design and control of strain-based topological quantum computing architectures.

Nonlinear response of interacting bosons in a quasiperiodic potential

We theoretically study the electric pulse-driven non-linear response of interacting bosons loaded in an optical lattice in the presence of an incommensurate superlattice potential. In the non-interacting limit $(U=0)$, the model admits both localized and delocalized phases depending on the strength of the incommensurate potential $V_0$. We show that the particle current contains only odd harmonics in the delocalized phase in contrast to the localised phase where both even and odd harmonics are identified. The relative magnitudes of these even and odd harmonics and sharpness of the peaks can be tuned by varying frequency and the number of cycles of the applied pulse, respectively. In the presence of repulsive interactions, the amplitudes of the even and odd harmonics further depend on the relative strengths of the interaction $U$ and the potential $V_0$. We illustrate that the disorder and interaction-induced phases can be distinguished and characterized through the particle current. Finally, we discuss the dynamics of field induced excitation responsible for exhibiting higher harmonics in the current spectrum.

Low energy excitation spectrum of magic-angle semimetals

We theoretically study the excitation spectrum of a two-dimensional Dirac semimetal in the presence of an incommensurate potential. Such models have been shown to possess magic-angle critical points in the single particle wavefunctions, signalled by a momentum space delocalization of plane wave eigenstates and flat bands due to a vanishing Dirac cone velocity. Using the kernel polynomial method, we compute the single particle Green's function to extract the nature of the single particle excitation energy, damping rate, and quasiparticle residue. As a result, we are able to clearly demonstrate the redistribution of spectral weight due to quasiperiodicity-induced downfolding of the Brillouin zone creating minibands with effective mini Brillouin zones that correspond to emergent superlattices. By computing the damping rate we show that the vanishing of the velocity and generation of finite density of states at the magic-angle transition coincides with the development of an imaginary part in the self energy and a suppression of the quasiparticle residue that vanishes in a power law like fashion. Observing these effects with ultracold atoms using momentum resolved radiofrequency spectroscopy is discussed.

Localization, multifractality, and many-body localization in periodically kicked quasiperiodic lattices

We study the combined effect of quasiperiodic disorder, driven and interaction in the periodically kicked Aubry-Andr\'{e} model. In the non-interacting limit, by analyzing the quasienergy spectrum statistics, we verify the existence of a dynamical localization transition in the high-frequency region, whereas the spectrum statistics becomes intricate in the low-frequency region due to the emergence of the extended/localized-to-multifractal edges in the quasienergy spectrum, which separate the multifractal states from the extended (localized) states. When the interaction is introduced, we find the periodically kicked incommensurate potential can lead to a transition from ergodic to many-body-localization phase in the high-frequency region. However, the many-body localization phase vanishes in the low-frequency region even for strong quasiperiodic disorder. Our studies demonstrate that the periodically kicked Aubry-Andr\'{e} model displays rich dynamical phenomena and the driving frequency plays an important role in the formation of many-body localization in addition to the disorder strength.

Emulating twisted double bilayer graphene with a multiorbital optical lattice

This work theoretically explores how to emulate twisted double bilayer graphene with ultracold atoms in multiorbital optical lattices. In particular, the quadratic band touching of Bernal stacked bilayer graphene is emulated using a square optical lattice with p_xpx, p_ypy, and d_{x^2-y^2}dx2−y2 orbitals on each site, while the effects of a twist are captured through the application of an incommensurate potential. The quadratic band touching is stable until the system undergoes an Anderson like delocalization transition in momentum space, which occurs concomitantly with a strongly renormalized single particle spectrum inducing flat bands, which is a generalization of the magic-angle condition realized in Dirac semimetals. The band structure is described perturbatively in the quasiperiodic potential strength, which captures miniband formation and the existence of magic-angles that qualitatively agrees with the exact numerical results in the appropriate regime. We identify several magic-angle conditions that can either have part or all of the quadratic band touching point become flat. In each case, these are accompanied by a diverging density of states and the delocalization of plane wave eigenstates. It is discussed how these transitions and phases can be observed in ultracold atom experiments.

Non-Hermitian topological mobility edges and transport in photonic quantum walks.

In non-Hermitian quasicrystals, mobility edges (ME) separating localized and extended states in the complex energy plane can arise as a result of non-Hermitian terms in the Hamiltonian. Such ME are of topological nature, i.e., the energies of localized and extended states exhibit distinct topological structures in the complex energy plane. However, depending on the origin of non-Hermiticity, i.e., asymmetry of hopping amplitudes or complexification of the incommensurate potential phase, different winding numbers are introduced, corresponding to different transport features in the bulk of the lattice: while ballistic transport is allowed in the former case, pseudo-dynamical localization is observed in the latter case. The results are illustrated by considering non-Hermitian photonic quantum walks in synthetic mesh lattices.

Probing Dynamical Anderson Transition in a Periodically‐Driven Lattice by Statistical Measures

AbstractThe Floquet system, as a platform to explore new physics in the time domain, has attracted wide interest. This paper considers the dynamical Anderson transition of a single particle in a 1D incommensurate potential, acted by periodic driving. The competition of three elements including the quasi‐disorder, periodic driving, and hopping, produces very rich yet unexplored phenomena in the system. The variance of the Shannon entropy is suggested, inspired by the fact that the Shannon entropy is just the mean information. For the ratio of nearest quasi‐eigenenergy spacings, its probability density distribution is obtained numerically. Based on this distribution, two statistical measures, the entropy of the ratio and the variance of the entropy are suggested to detect the dynamical transition. Moreover, the Anderson transition can also be identified by the pseudo‐spin operators based on the site bases.

Enhanced superconductivity in quasiperiodic crystals

We study superconductivity in a family of one dimensional incommensurate system with $s$-wave pairing interaction. The incommensurate potential can alter the spatial characteristics of electrons in the normal state, leading to either extended, critical, or localized wave functions. We find that superconductivity is significantly enhanced when the electronic wave function exhibits a critical multifractal structure. This criticality also manifests itself in the power-law dependence of superconducting temperature on the pairing strength. As a consequence, an extended superconducting domain is expected to exist around the localization-delocalization transition, which can be induced by either tuning the amplitude of the incommensurate potential, or by varying the chemical potential across a mobility edge. Our results thus suggest a novel approach to enhance superconducting transition temperature through engineering of incommensurate potential.

Duality between two generalized Aubry-André models with exact mobility edges

A mobility edge (ME) in energy separating extended from localized states is a central concept in understanding various fundamental phenomena, such as the metal-insulator transition in disordered systems. In one-dimensional quasiperiodic systems, there exist a few models with exact MEs, and these models are beneficial to provide exact understanding of ME physics. Here we investigate two widely studied models including exact MEs, one with an exponential hopping and one with a special form of incommensurate on-site potential. We analytically prove that the two models are mutually dual and further give the numerical verification by calculating the inverse participation ratio and Husimi function. Our result may provide insight into realizing and observing exact MEs in both theory and experiment.

The Effect of X‐Ray Irradiation on Conductivity of C and 2C Polytype TlInS2 Ferroelectrics

The influence of X‐ray irradiation on DC conductivity of TlInS2 C and 2C polytypes is studied in the temperature range of 100–300 K. The X‐ray irradiation (absorbed doses are 0.9 and 2.7 kGy) leads to an increasing conductivity of both C‐ and 2C‐samples in proportion to the absorbed dose; the conductivity decreases on cooling in the temperature region of 100–300 K. An anomalous increase in conductivity is observed in C‐polytype samples on cooling in the temperature range of the incommensurate phase (197–214 K). The X‐ray irradiation causes the “blur” of that anomaly. It is established that the mechanism of hopping conductivity with variable hopping length takes place for both polytypes in the temperature range of 125–175 K, and the densities of localized states near the Fermi level (NF) are determined. Under irradiation, the density NF increases from 3.7 × 1018 eV−1 cm−3 (C) to 6.9 × 1018 eV−1 cm−3 (2C) and exceeds the initial value more than three times at D = 2.7 kGy. Using the 1D Kroning–Penney model, the role of incommensurate periodic potential in modification of electron band structure at creation of the incommensurate phases in crystals is discussed.

Mobility edge and intermediate phase in one-dimensional incommensurate lattice potentials

We study theoretically the localization properties of two distinct one-dimensional quasiperiodic lattice models with a single-particle mobility edge (SPME) separating extended and localized states in the energy spectrum. The first one is the familiar Soukoulis-Economou trichromatic potential model with two incommensurate potentials, and the second is a system consisting of two coupled 1D Aubry-Andre chains each containing one incommensurate potential. We show that as a function of the Hamiltonian model parameters, both models have a wide single-particle intermediate phase (SPIP), defined as the regime where localized and extended single-particle states coexist in the spectrum, leading to a behavior intermediate between purely extended or purely localized when the system is dynamically quenched from a generic initial state. Our results thus suggest that both systems could serve as interesting experimental platforms for studying the interplay between localized and extended states, and may provide insight into the role of the coupling of small baths to localized systems. We also calculate the Lyapunov (or localization) exponent for several incommensurate 1D models exhibiting SPME, finding that such localization critical exponents for quasiperiodic potential induced localization are nonuniversal and depend on the microscopic details of the Hamiltonian.

Strongly correlated photon transport in nonlinear photonic lattices with disorder: Probing signatures of the localization transition

We study the transport of few-photon states in an open disordered nonlinear photonic lattice. More specifically, we consider a waveguide quantum electrodynamics (QED) setup where photons are scattered from a chain of nonlinear resonators with onsite Bose-Hubbard interaction in the presence of an incommensurate potential. Applying our recently developed diagrammatic technique that represents scattering matrix (S-matrix) with scattering diagrams and associated propagators, we compute the two-photon transmission probability and show that it carries signatures of the underlying many-body localization transition of the system. We compare the calculated probability to the participation ratio of the eigenstates and find close agreement for a range of interaction strengths. We analyze the robustness of the transmission signatures against local dissipation and briefly discuss possible implementation using current superconducting circuit technology.

Incommensurate standard map.

We introduce and study the extension of the Chirikov standard map when the kick potential has two and three incommensurate spatial harmonics. This system is called the incommensurate standard map. At small kick amplitudes, the dynamics is bounded by the isolating Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser surfaces, whereas above a certain kick strength, it becomes unbounded and diffusive. The quantum evolution at small quantum kick amplitudes is somewhat similar to the case of the Aubru-André model studied in mathematics and experiments with cold atoms in a static incommensurate potential. We show that for the quantum map there is also a metal-insulator transition in space whereas in momentum we have localization similar to the case of two-dimensional Anderson localization. In the case of three incommensurate frequencies of the space potential, the quantum evolution is characterized by the Anderson transition similar to the three-dimensional case of the disordered potential. We discuss possible physical systems with such a map description including dynamics of comets and dark matter in planetary systems.

Single-particle localization in dynamical potentials

Single particle localization of an ultra-cold atom is studied in one dimension when the atom is confined by an optical lattice and by the incommensurate potential of a high-finesse optical cavity. In the strong coupling regime the atom is a dynamical refractive medium, the cavity resonance depends on the atomic position within the standing-wave mode and nonlinearly determines the depth and form of the incommensurate potential. We show that the particular form of the quasi-random cavity potential leads to the appearance of mobility edges, even in presence of nearest-neighbour hopping. We provide a detailed characterization of the system as a function of its parameters and in particular of the strength of the atom-cavity coupling, which controls the functional form of the cavity potential. For strong atom-photon coupling the properties of the mobility edges significantly depend on the ratio between the periodicities of the confining optical lattice and of the cavity field.

Effect of an incommensurate potential on nodal-link semimetals

We explore the effect of an incommensurate potential on nodal-link semimetals. For system with surface states, we show the nodal-link semimetal undergoes a series of phase transitions: first into a metallic phase, then to a loop semimetal phase and back to a metallic phase with increasing the strength of incommensurate potential. The phase transitions are unveiled by analyzing the properties of energy spectra and wave functions. We also study the system without surface states and find that the Fermi surface evolves from lines to loops before the system enters into a metallic phase when increasing the incommensurate potential strength.

Mobility edges in off-diagonal disordered tight-binding models

We study the one-dimensional tight-binding models which include a slowly varying, incommensurate off-diagonal modulation on the hopping amplitude. Interestingly, we find that the mobility edges can appear only when this off-diagonal (hopping) disorder is included in the model, which is different from the known results induced by the diagonal disorder. We further study the situation where the off-diagonal and diagonal disorder terms (the incommensurate potential) are both included and find that the locations of mobility edges change significantly and the varying trend of the mobility edge becomes nonsmooth. We first identify the exact expressions of mobility edges of both models by using asymptotic heuristic argument, and then verify the conclusions by utilizing several numerical diagnostic techniques, including the inverse participation ratio, the density of states and the Lyapunov exponent. This result will perspectives for future investigations on the mobility edge in low dimensional correlated disordered system.