Experimental Observation of a Generalized Thouless Pump with a Single Spin

Wenchao Ma, Longwen Zhou, Qi Zhang, Min Li, Chunyang Cheng, Jianpei Geng, Xing Rong, Fazhan Shi, Jiangbin Gong, and Jiangfeng Du
Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 120501 – Published 19 March 2018
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Abstract

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.

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  • Received 7 August 2017
  • Revised 17 January 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.120501

© 2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Quantum Information, Science & TechnologyCondensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Wenchao Ma1,2, Longwen Zhou3, Qi Zhang1,2, Min Li1,2, Chunyang Cheng1,2, Jianpei Geng1,*, Xing Rong1,2,4, Fazhan Shi1,2,4,†, Jiangbin Gong3,‡, and Jiangfeng Du1,2,4,§

  • 1CAS Key Laboratory of Microscale Magnetic Resonance and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
  • 2Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
  • 3Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore
  • 4Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China

  • *Present address: School of Electronic Science and Applied Physics, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China.
  • fzshi@ustc.edu.cn
  • phygj@nus.edu.sg
  • §djf@ustc.edu.cn

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Issue

Vol. 120, Iss. 12 — 23 March 2018

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