Dynamical Signatures of Floquet Topology in Wave Packet Dynamics

Abstract

Periodically driven quantum systems, known as Floquet systems, provide a versatile platform for engineering novel topological phases absent in static settings. However, dynamically characterizing these non-equilibrium topological invariants remains a challenge. Here, we develop a Floquet perturbation theory in the extended Hilbert space to analytically describe the center-of-mass (CoM) dynamics of a wave packet. When applied to the driven Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, our theory reveals that the CoM exhibits multi-frequency Zitterbewegung oscillations, whose spectral composition and phase are directly tied to the system's Floquet band structure. Crucially, we find that band inversions at topological phase transitions imprint distinct signatures in the CoM dynamics, including the emergence of low-frequency modes and phase shifts of the oscillatory trajectory. These dynamical signatures offer a practical protocol for detecting Floquet topological invariants, which we demonstrate for both high-frequency and strongly driven regimes. Our work establishes CoM dynamics as a simple and experimentally accessible probe for exploring topological phase transitions in Floquet systems.

arXiv comment10 pages, 3 figures. Comments are welcome

References in corpus (37)

• Many-Body Physics with Ultracold Gases
• Topological Photonics
• Experimental realisation of the topological Haldane model
• Universal High-Frequency Behavior of Periodically Driven Systems: from Dynamical Stabilization to Floquet Engineering
• Topological characterization of periodically-driven quantum systems
• Atomic quantum gases in periodically driven optical lattices
• The Magnus expansion and some of its applications
• Floquet Engineering of Quantum Materials
• Topological Bands for Ultracold Atoms
• Periodically-driven quantum systems: Effective Hamiltonians and engineered gauge fields
• High-frequency approximation for periodically driven quantum systems from a Floquet-space perspective
• Nonthermal pathways to ultrafast control in quantum materials
• Periodic Table for Floquet Topological Insulators
• Realization of an anomalous Floquet topological system with ultracold atoms
• Periodically Driving a Many-Body Localized Quantum System
• Topological singularities and the general classification of Floquet-Bloch systems
• Chiral symmetry and bulk--boundary correspondence in periodically driven one-dimensional systems
• Bulk--Boundary Correspondence for Chiral Symmetric Quantum Walks
• Topological invariants of Floquet systems: General formulation, special properties, and Floquet topological defects
• Measuring topology by dynamics: Chern number from linking number
• Tailoring quantum gases by Floquet engineering
• Floquet topological transitions in a driven one-dimensional topological insulator
• Floquet Topological States in Shaking Optical Lattices
• Zitterbewegung (trembling motion) of electrons in semiconductors: a Review
• Complex classes of periodically driven topological lattice systems
• Tuning anomalous Floquet topological bands with ultracold atoms
• General Theory of the Zitterbewegung
• Unified theory to characterize Floquet topological phases by quench dynamics
• Interaction-driven breakdown of dynamical localization in a kicked quantum gas
• How to Directly Measure Floquet Topological Invariants in Optical Lattices
• Wave-packet Dynamics in Synthetic Non-Abelian Gauge Fields
• Floquet oscillations in periodically driven Dirac systems
• Multi-mode behavior of electron Zitterbewegung induced by an electromagnetic wave in graphene
• Dynamical Detection of Topological Spectral Density
• Link between \emph{Zitterbewegung} and topological phase transition
• Steering Zitterbewegung in driven Dirac systems -- from persistent modes to echoes
• Dynamically Characterizing the Structures of Dirac Points via Wave Packets