Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801-3080, USA.
ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, 08860 Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain.
Science. 2018 Nov 23;362(6417):929-933. doi: 10.1126/science.aat3406. Epub 2018 Oct 11.
Topology and disorder have a rich combined influence on quantum transport. To probe their interplay, we synthesized one-dimensional chiral symmetric wires with controllable disorder via spectroscopic Hamiltonian engineering, based on the laser-driven coupling of discrete momentum states of ultracold atoms. Measuring the bulk evolution of a topological indicator after a sudden quench, we observed the topological Anderson insulator phase, in which added disorder drives the band structure of a wire from topologically trivial to nontrivial. In addition, we observed the robustness of topologically nontrivial wires to weak disorder and measured the transition to a trivial phase in the presence of strong disorder. Atomic interactions in this quantum simulation platform may enable realizations of strongly interacting topological fluids.
拓扑和无序对量子输运有丰富的综合影响。为了探究它们的相互作用，我们通过光谱哈密顿量工程，基于激光驱动的超冷原子离散动量态的耦合，合成了具有可控无序的一维手性对称线。通过测量拓扑指示剂在突然淬火后的体演化，我们观察到拓扑安德森绝缘相，其中添加的无序将线的能带结构从拓扑平凡驱动到非平凡。此外，我们观察到拓扑非平凡线对弱无序的鲁棒性，并在存在强无序时测量了向平凡相的转变。在这个量子模拟平台中，原子相互作用可能会实现强相互作用的拓扑流体。
