TY - JOUR

T1 - Band structure engineering and non-equilibrium dynamics in Floquet topological insulators

AU - Rudner, Mark S.

AU - Lindner, Netanel H.

PY - 2020/5/1

Y1 - 2020/5/1

N2 - Non-equilibrium topological phenomena can be induced in quantum many-body systems using time-periodic fields (for example, by laser or microwave illumination). This Review begins with the key principles underlying Floquet band engineering, wherein such fields are used to change the topological properties of a system’s single-particle spectrum. In contrast to equilibrium systems, non-trivial band structure topology in a driven many-body system does not guarantee that robust topological behaviour will be observed. In particular, periodically driven many-body systems tend to absorb energy from their driving fields and thereby tend to heat up. We survey various strategies for overcoming this challenge of heating and for obtaining new topological phenomena in this non-equilibrium setting. We describe how drive-induced topological edge states can be probed in the regime of mesoscopic transport, and three routes for observing topological phenomena beyond the mesoscopic regime: long-lived transient dynamics and prethermalization, disorder-induced many-body localization, and engineered couplings to external baths. We discuss the types of phenomena that can be explored in each of the regimes covered, and their experimental realizations in solid-state, cold atomic, and photonic systems.

AB - Non-equilibrium topological phenomena can be induced in quantum many-body systems using time-periodic fields (for example, by laser or microwave illumination). This Review begins with the key principles underlying Floquet band engineering, wherein such fields are used to change the topological properties of a system’s single-particle spectrum. In contrast to equilibrium systems, non-trivial band structure topology in a driven many-body system does not guarantee that robust topological behaviour will be observed. In particular, periodically driven many-body systems tend to absorb energy from their driving fields and thereby tend to heat up. We survey various strategies for overcoming this challenge of heating and for obtaining new topological phenomena in this non-equilibrium setting. We describe how drive-induced topological edge states can be probed in the regime of mesoscopic transport, and three routes for observing topological phenomena beyond the mesoscopic regime: long-lived transient dynamics and prethermalization, disorder-induced many-body localization, and engineered couplings to external baths. We discuss the types of phenomena that can be explored in each of the regimes covered, and their experimental realizations in solid-state, cold atomic, and photonic systems.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85084930587&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s42254-020-0170-z

DO - 10.1038/s42254-020-0170-z

M3 - Review

AN - SCOPUS:85084930587

VL - 2

SP - 229

EP - 244

JO - Nature Reviews Physics

JF - Nature Reviews Physics

SN - 2522-5820

IS - 5

ER -