Observation of the topological Anderson insulator in disordered atomic wires
Abstract
Adding irregularity to a system can lead to a transition from a more orderly to a less orderly phase. Meier et al. demonstrated a counterintuitive transition in the opposite direction: Controlled fluctuations in the system's parameters caused it to become topologically nontrivial. The starting point was a one-dimensional lattice of ultracold rubidium atoms in momentum space whose band structure was topologically trivial. The researchers then introduced fluctuations in the tunneling between the lattice sites and monitored the atomic “wires” as the amplitude of the fluctuations increased. The wires first became topologically nontrivial and then went back to trivial for sufficient disorder strengths.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Nov 23, 2018
- Source ID
- 10.1126/science.aat3406
Entities
People
- Alexandre Dauphin
- Bryce Gadway
- Eric J Meier
- Fangzhao Alex An
- Maria Maffei
- Pietro Massignan
- Severo Ochoa
- Taylor L. Hughes
Organizations
- Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology
- Fundación Cellex
- Generalitat of Catalonia
- National Science Foundation
- Office of Naval Research
- Polytechnic University of Catalonia
- University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign
- University of Naples Federico II