Nonequilibrium steady states (NESSs) in periodically driven dissipative quantum systems are vital in Floquet engineering. We develop a general theory for high-frequency drives with Lindblad-type dissipation to characterize and analyze NESSs. This theory is based on the high-frequency (HF) expansion with linear algebraic numerics and without numerically solving the time evolution. Using this theory, we show that NESSs can deviate from the Floquet-Gibbs state depending on the dissipation type. We also show the validity and usefulness of the HF-expansion approach in concrete models for a diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center, a kicked open XY spin chain with topological phase transition under boundary dissipation, and the Heisenberg spin chain in a circularly-polarized magnetic field under bulk dissipation. In particular, for the isotropic Heisenberg chain, we propose the dissipation-assisted terahertz (THz) inverse Faraday effect in quantum magnets. Our theoretical framework applies to various time-periodic Lindblad equations that are currently under active research.
Nonequilibrium steady states (NESSs) in periodically driven dissipative quantum systems are vital in Floquet engineering. We develop a general theory for high-frequency drives with Lindblad-type dissipation to characterize and analyze NESSs. This theory is based on the high-frequency (HF) expansion with linear algebraic numerics and without numerically solving the time evolution. Using this theory, we show that NESSs can deviate from the Floquet-Gibbs state depending on the dissipation type. We also show the validity and usefulness of the HF-expansion approach in concrete models for a diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center, a kicked open XY spin chain with topological phase transition under boundary dissipation, and the Heisenberg spin chain in a circularly-polarized magnetic field under bulk dissipation. In particular, for the isotropic Heisenberg chain, we propose the dissipation-assisted terahertz (THz) inverse Faraday effect in quantum magnets. Our theoretical framework applies to various time-periodic Lindblad equations that are currently under active research.
Laser technology has developed and accelerated photo-induced nonequilibrium physics, from both the scientific and engineering viewpoints. Floquet engineering, i.e., controlling material properties and functionalities by time-periodic drives, is at the forefront of quantum physics of light-matter interaction. However, it is limited to ideal dissipationless systems. Extending Floquet engineering to various materials requires understanding of the quantum states emerging in a balance of the periodic drive and energy dissipation. Here, we derive a general description for nonequilibrium steady states (NESSs) in periodically driven dissipative systems by focusing on systems under high-frequency drive and time-independent Lindblad-type dissipation. Our formula correctly describes the time average, fluctuation, and symmetry properties of the NESS, and can be computed efficiently in numerical calculations. This approach will play fundamental roles in Floquet engineering in a broad class of dissipative quantum systems from atoms and molecules to mesoscopic systems, and condensed matter.
In this paper, we investigate periodically driven open quantum systems within the framework of Floquet-Lindblad master equations. Specifically, we discuss Lindblad master equations in the presence of a coherent, time-periodic driving and establish their general spectral features. We also clarify the notions of transient and nondecaying solutions from this spectral perspective, and then prove that any physical system described by a Floquet-Lindblad equation must have at least one physical nonequilibrium steady state (NESS), corresponding to an eigenoperator of the Floquet-Lindblad evolution superoperator UF with unit eigenvalue. Since the Floquet-Lindblad formalism encapsulates the entire information regarding the NESS, it in principle enables us to obtain nonlinear effects to all orders at once. The Floquet-Lindblad formalism thus provides a powerful tool for studying driven-dissipative solid-state systems, which we illustrate by deriving the nonlinear optical response of a simple two-band model of an insulating solid and comparing it with prior results established through Keldysh techniques.
Floquet engineering of isolated systems is often based on the concept of the effective time-independent Floquet Hamiltonian, which describes the stroboscopic evolution of a periodically driven quantum system in steps of the driving period and which is routinely obtained analytically using high-frequency expansions. The generalization of these concepts to open quantum systems described by a Markovian master equation of Lindblad type turns out to be nontrivial: On the one hand, already for a two-level system two different phases can be distinguished, where the effective time-independent Floquet generator (describing the stroboscopic evolution) is either again Markovian and of Lindblad type or not. On the other hand, even though in the high-frequency regime a Lindbladian Floquet generator (Floquet Lindbladian) is numerically found to exist, this behavior is, curiously, not correctly reproduced within analytical high-frequency expansions. Here, we demonstrate that a proper Floquet Lindbladian can still be obtained from a high-frequency expansion, when treating the problem in a suitably chosen rotating frame. Within this approach, we can then also describe the transition to a phase at lower driving frequencies, where no Floquet Lindbladian exists, and show that the emerging non-Markovianity of the Floquet generator can entirely be attributed to the micromotion of the open driven system.
We study driven and open quantum systems described by a time-periodic Lindblad master equation. In closed systems, the stroboscopic dynamics can always be described by an effective time-independent Floquet Hamiltonian; this idea is the basis of Floquet engineering. However, in the presence of dissipation, the existence of an effective time-independent Floquet Lindbladian is not guaranteed due to the non-unitary nature of the evolution. Using Floquet theory, we construct a well-defined time-independent Floquet Lindbladian in an extended Sambe-Liouville space, transforming the initial time-dependent problem to a static and non-Hermitian eigenvalue problem. For harmonic driving, we introduce a matrix continued fraction method to nonperturbatively resum multiphoton processes and construct an effective Floquet Lindbladian acting only on the physical Liouville space. Compared to other high-frequency expansions, this method has the advantage of providing the whole infinite series expansion at once. Using a resolvent formalism, we show how to obtain a spectral Floquet representation of correlation functions of an open quantum system. As an application, we consider a dissipating two-level system in a linearly polarized field and calculate its resonance fluorescence spectrum. Furthermore, we consider a parametrically driven quantum dot with pump and loss for which we calculate its spectral function and current-voltage characteristics.
We construct a systematic high-frequency expansion for periodically driven quantum systems based on the Brillouin-Wigner (BW) perturbation theory, which generates an effective Hamiltonian on the projected zero-photon subspace in the Floquet theory, reproducing the quasienergies and eigenstates of the original Floquet Hamiltonian up to desired order in $1/\ensuremath{\omega}$, with $\ensuremath{\omega}$ being the frequency of the drive. The advantage of the BW method is that it is not only efficient in deriving higher-order terms, but even enables us to write down the whole infinite series expansion, as compared to the van Vleck degenerate perturbation theory. The expansion is also free from a spurious dependence on the driving phase, which has been an obstacle in the Floquet-Magnus expansion. We apply the BW expansion to various models of noninteracting electrons driven by circularly polarized light. As the amplitude of the light is increased, the system undergoes a series of Floquet topological-to-topological phase transitions, whose phase boundary in the high-frequency regime is well explained by the BW expansion. As the frequency is lowered, the high-frequency expansion breaks down at some point due to band touching with nonzero-photon sectors, where we find numerically even more intricate and richer Floquet topological phases spring out. We have then analyzed, with the Floquet dynamical mean-field theory, the effects of electron-electron interaction and energy dissipation. We have specifically revealed that phase transitions from Floquet-topological to Mott insulators emerge, where the phase boundaries can again be captured with the high-frequency expansion.
Periodic driving is used to steer physical systems to unique stationary states or nonequilibrium steady states (NESS), producing enhanced properties inaccessible to nondriven systems. For open quantum systems, characterizing the NESS is challenging and existing results are generally limited to specific types of driving and the Born-Markov approximation. Here, we go beyond these limits by studying a generic periodically driven N -level quantum system interacting with a low-density thermal gas. Exploiting the framework of Floquet scattering theory, we establish general Floquet thermalization conditions constraining the nature of the NESS and the transition rates. Moreover, we examine theoretically the structure of the NESS in the high-temperature limit and find out that the NESS complies, rather surprisingly, with a uniform probability distribution (predicted by the Boltzmann law) for any driving. Numerical calculations illustrate our theoretical elaborations for a simple toy model.