Steady states and edge state transport in topological Floquet-Bloch systems


  Iliya Esin  ,  Mark S. Rudner  ,  Gil Refael  ,  Netanel H. Lindner  
Physics Department, Technion, 320003 Haifa, Israel
Center for Quantum Devices and Niels Bohr International Academy, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

We study the open system dynamics and steady states of two dimensional Floquet topological insulators: systems in which a topological Floquet-Bloch spectrum is induced by an external periodic drive.  We solve for the bulk and edge state carrier distributions, taking into account energy and momentum relaxation through radiative recombination and electron-phonon interactions, as well as coupling to an external lead. We show that the resulting steady state resembles a topological insulator in the Floquet basis. The particle distribution in the Floquet edge modes exhibits a sharp feature akin to the Fermi level in equilibrium systems, while the bulk hosts a small density of excitations. We discuss two-terminal transport  and describe the regimes where edge-state transport can be observed. Our results show that signatures of the non-trivial topology persist in the non-equilibrium steady state.