Mechanical Resonances of Mobile Impurities in a One-Dimensional Quantum Fluid

in Physical Review Letters (2019), 123

We study a one-dimensional interacting quantum liquid hosting a pair of mobile impurities causing backscattering. We determine the effective retarded interaction between the two impurities mediated by the ... [more ▼]

We study a one-dimensional interacting quantum liquid hosting a pair of mobile impurities causing backscattering. We determine the effective retarded interaction between the two impurities mediated by the liquid. We show that for strong backscattering this interaction gives rise to resonances and antiresonances in the finite-frequency mobility of the impurity pair. At the antiresonances, the two impurities remain at rest even when driven by a (small) external force. At the resonances, their synchronous motion follows the external drive in phase and reaches maximum amplitude. Using a perturbative renormalization group analysis in quantum tunneling across the impurities, we study the range of validity of our model. We predict that these mechanical antiresonances are observable in experiments on ultracold atom gases confined to one dimension. [less ▲]

Z4 parafermions in one-dimensional fermionic lattices

in Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter (2018), 98

Parafermions are emergent excitations which generalize Majorana fermions and are potentially relevant to topological quantum computation. Using the concept of Fock parafermions, we present a mapping ... [more ▼]

Parafermions are emergent excitations which generalize Majorana fermions and are potentially relevant to topological quantum computation. Using the concept of Fock parafermions, we present a mapping between lattice Z4-parafermions and lattice spin-1/2 fermions which preserves the locality of operators with Z4 symmetry. Based on this mapping, we construct an exactly solvable, local one-dimensional fermionic Hamiltonian which hosts parafermionic edge states. We numerically show that the parafermionic phase remains stable in a wide range of parameters, and discuss its signatures in the fermionic spectral function. [less ▲]

Universal scaling of quench-induced correlations in a one-dimensional channel at finite temperature

in SciPost Physics (2018)

It has been shown that a quantum quench of interactions in a one-dimensional fermion system at zero temperature induces a universal power law ∝t−2 in its long-time dynamics. In this paper we demonstrate ... [more ▼]

It has been shown that a quantum quench of interactions in a one-dimensional fermion system at zero temperature induces a universal power law ∝t−2 in its long-time dynamics. In this paper we demonstrate that this behaviour is robust even in the presence of thermal effects. The system is initially prepared in a thermal state, then at a given time the bath is disconnected and the interaction strength is suddenly quenched. The corresponding effects on the long times dynamics of the non-equilibrium fermionic spectral function are considered. We show that the non-universal power laws, present at zero temperature, acquire an exponential decay due to thermal effects and are washed out at long times, while the universal behaviour ∝t−2 is always present. To verify our findings, we argue that these features are also visible in transport properties at finite temperature. The long-time dynamics of the current injected from a biased probe exhibits the same universal power law relaxation, in sharp contrast with the non-quenched case which features a fast exponential decay of the current towards its steady value, and thus represents a fingerprint of quench-induced dynamics. Finally, we show that a proper tuning of the probe temperature, compared to that of the one-dimensional channel, can enhance the visibility of the universal power-law behaviour. [less ▲]

Quantum thermodynamics of the resonant-level model with driven system-bath coupling

in Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter (2018), 97

Quantum thermodynamics of the resonant-level model with driven system-bath coupling

E-print/Working paper (2017)

Energy and momentum distribution of fractional excitations in helical systems

Poster (2017, September 05)

Energy and momentum distribution of fractional excitations in 1D counterpropagating systems

Poster (2017, July 25)

Missing shapiro steps and the 8PI-periodic Josephson effect in the interacting helical electron systems

in Physica B: Condensed Matter (2017)

Spin-orbit coupling in quasi-one-dimensional Wigner crystals

in Physical Review B (2017), 95(4), 045413

We study the effect of Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) on the charge and spin degrees of freedom of a quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) Wigner crystal. As electrons in a quasi-1D Wigner crystal can move ... [more ▼]

We study the effect of Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) on the charge and spin degrees of freedom of a quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) Wigner crystal. As electrons in a quasi-1D Wigner crystal can move in the transverse direction, SOC cannot be gauged away in contrast to the pure 1D case. We show that for weak SOC, a partial gap in the spectrum opens at certain ratios between density of electrons and the inverse Rashba length. We present how the low-energy branch of charge degrees of freedom deviates due to SOC from its usual linear dependence at small wave vectors. In the case of strong SOC, we show that spin sector of a Wigner crystal cannot be described by an isotropic antiferromagnetic Heisenberg Hamiltonian any more, and that instead the ground state of neighboring electrons is mostly a triplet state. We present a new spin sector Hamiltonian and discuss the spectrum of Wigner crystal in this limit. [less ▲]

Lifting the Franck-Condon blockade in driven quantum dots

in Physical Review. B : Condensed Matter (2016), 94

Electron-vibron coupling in quantum dots can lead to a strong suppression of the average current in the sequential tunneling regime. This effect is known as Franck-Condon blockade and can be traced back ... [more ▼]

Electron-vibron coupling in quantum dots can lead to a strong suppression of the average current in the sequential tunneling regime. This effect is known as Franck-Condon blockade and can be traced back to an overlap integral between vibron states with different electron numbers which becomes exponentially small for large electron-vibron coupling strength. Here, we investigate the effect of a time-dependent drive on this phenomenon, in particular the effect of an oscillatory gate voltage acting on the electronic dot level. We employ two different approaches: perturbation theory based on nonequilibrium Keldysh Green's functions and a master equation in Born-Markov approximation. In both cases, we find that the drive can lift the blockade by exciting vibrons. As a consequence, the relative change in average current grows exponentially with the drive strength. [less ▲]