Quantized dynamical pumping via dissipation in a mechanical Thouless pump

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Autori principali: Jürgensen, Marius, Rechtsman, Mikael C.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Jürgensen, Marius
Rechtsman, Mikael C.
author_facet Jürgensen, Marius
Rechtsman, Mikael C.
contents Thouless pumps are time-periodic one-dimensional systems that capture the physics of the two-dimensional quantum Hall effect via the quantized pumping of particles under adiabatic modulation. Recent work in photonics has shown that nonlinearity can act to quantize the displacement of light in the form of soliton motion. Here we use a mechanical system -- namely coupled pendulums described by the Frenkel-Kontorova model -- to propose and observe quantized non-adiabatic Thouless pumping using topological kink solitons. The pumping proceeds by a qualitatively different mechanism compared to Thouless' original proposal as the pump is non-adiabatic and dissipation is necessary. In the presence of an additional potential gradient along the pump, we predict and observe the emergence of quantized transport against the pumping direction as a function of the period and show the emergence of a rich plateau structure; this quantization is unique to dissipative systems and cannot be described by the Chern number. Finally, we experimentally demonstrate the robustness of the process by pumping the soliton through a tunable nonlinear defect.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_14046
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Quantized dynamical pumping via dissipation in a mechanical Thouless pump
Jürgensen, Marius
Rechtsman, Mikael C.
Pattern Formation and Solitons
Thouless pumps are time-periodic one-dimensional systems that capture the physics of the two-dimensional quantum Hall effect via the quantized pumping of particles under adiabatic modulation. Recent work in photonics has shown that nonlinearity can act to quantize the displacement of light in the form of soliton motion. Here we use a mechanical system -- namely coupled pendulums described by the Frenkel-Kontorova model -- to propose and observe quantized non-adiabatic Thouless pumping using topological kink solitons. The pumping proceeds by a qualitatively different mechanism compared to Thouless' original proposal as the pump is non-adiabatic and dissipation is necessary. In the presence of an additional potential gradient along the pump, we predict and observe the emergence of quantized transport against the pumping direction as a function of the period and show the emergence of a rich plateau structure; this quantization is unique to dissipative systems and cannot be described by the Chern number. Finally, we experimentally demonstrate the robustness of the process by pumping the soliton through a tunable nonlinear defect.
title Quantized dynamical pumping via dissipation in a mechanical Thouless pump
topic Pattern Formation and Solitons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.14046