We introduce a geometrical framework to construct a large class of time-dependent quantum systems in which the position of a classical particle moving autonomously on a smooth connected manifold is used to steer a quantum Hamiltonian over time. This results in quantum drives with structured temporal profiles and properties dependent on the local and global nature of the underlying choice of manifold. We show that our construction recovers the well-known classes of periodically driven and quasiperiodically driven quantum systems, but also unveils fundamentally new classes of quantum dynamics: by utilizing a compact two-dimensional hyperbolic Bolza surface and a nonorientable Klein-bottle surface, we demonstrate examples of a hyperbolically driven quantum system and a nonorientably driven quantum system respectively. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these driven systems exhibit unusual quantized dynamical responses reflecting their different underlying topologies, under the condition of being fully gapped and in the adiabatic limit, and which have interpretations as quantized crystalline electromagnetic responses in certain exotic effective tight-binding lattice models. We envision geometric quantum driving as a general framework to chart the landscape of time-dependent quantum systems and investigate the universal phase structures they exhibit, as well as a useful tool to enhance the capabilities of modern day quantum simulators.
We introduce a geometrical framework to construct a large class of time-dependent quantum systems in which the position of a classical particle moving autonomously on a smooth connected manifold is used to steer a quantum Hamiltonian over time. This results in quantum drives with structured temporal profiles and properties dependent on the local and global nature of the underlying choice of manifold. We show that our construction recovers the well-known classes of periodically driven and quasiperiodically driven quantum systems, but also unveils fundamentally new classes of quantum dynamics: by utilizing a compact two-dimensional hyperbolic Bolza surface and a nonorientable Klein-bottle surface, we demonstrate examples of a hyperbolically driven quantum system and a nonorientably driven quantum system respectively. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these driven systems exhibit unusual quantized dynamical responses reflecting their different underlying topologies, under the condition of being fully gapped and in the adiabatic limit, and which have interpretations as quantized crystalline electromagnetic responses in certain exotic effective tight-binding lattice models. We envision geometric quantum driving as a general framework to chart the landscape of time-dependent quantum systems and investigate the universal phase structures they exhibit, as well as a useful tool to enhance the capabilities of modern day quantum simulators.
Hyperbolic geometry hosts a plethora of exotic quantum phenomena ranging from holographic duality to novel topological phases. However, investigating these effects experimentally remains challenging due to the Euclidean constraints of natural crystalline materials. While recent synthetic lattices have achieved static realizations, they often lack the dynamical tunability required to explore the full geometric landscape. Here, we overcome these limitations by implementing a quantum simulation of hyperbolic geometry within the parameter space of a superconducting quantum circuit. We construct a Hyperbolically Driven Quantum System (HDQS) by mapping the hyperbolic properties onto the dynamically controllable Hamiltonian parameters. By probing the systems' response under geometric quantum driving, we elucidate how the intrinsic geometry of the parameter space dictates observable physical quantities. Furthermore, we extend the theoretical framework to realize ensemble simulation. This generalization enables us to harness the fast coherent control of superconducting qubits to capture essential geometric characteristics, establishing a versatile platform for exploring quantum dynamics on hyperbolic manifolds.
Periodically driven quantum systems offer an exceptional platform for quantum simulations due to the possibility to approximate their dynamics in terms of time-independent effective Hamiltonians. This, together with the recent experimental advances, has situated driven systems at center stage of engineered quantum-mechanical devices. The aim of this thesis is to develop theoretical methods in order to design optimal quantum simulations with driven systems. By applying the derived tools to experimentally relevant models, the applicability and significance of the methods are furthermore demonstrated. First, we introduce a method to derive accurate effective Hamiltonians by merging two seemingly unrelated tools: Floquet theory and flow equations. With this, the required analytical identification of the effective Hamiltonian in terms of the system's parameters is achieved. Second, we identify structural properties that determine the accessible effective dynamics of a system of particles on shaken optical lattices, which is arguably one of the most remarkable systems for many-body quantum simulations. In particular, we identify fundamental symmetries of the underlying lattice geometry that determine the emergence of new tunneling processes. Third, we develop an optimal control scheme to design polychromatic driving protocols that optimally simulate specifically targeted dynamics. We apply this scheme to demonstrate an optimal realization of Raman transitions with a Lambda system, a building block in many quantum simulations. Then, we employ it to implement a topological Chern insulator through suitably engineering the geometry-dependent tunneling of particles on a shaken hexagonal lattice. Hereby, a realistic route to experimentally test strongly-correlated topological phases of matter is provided. By determining structural properties of driven systems and suitable driving protocols, the methods described in this thesis open substantial possibilities for the development of optimal quantum simulations and, ultimately, reliable quantum technologies.
Quantum geometry plays a fundamental role across many branches of modern physics, yet its full characterization in nonequilibrium systems remains a challenge. Here, we propose a framework for quantum geometry in Floquet topological insulators by introducing a time-resolved quantum metric tensor, defined via the trace distance between micromotion operators in momentum-time space. For class A in two spatial dimensions, we find a general inequality linking the Floquet quantum metric tensor and the Floquet topology: the associated quantum volume is bounded below by the Floquet topological invariant. This relation is found to also hold in class AIII in one dimension, where the Floquet geometric tensor may be notably reduced due to time-reflection symmetry. This work will be useful in digesting the general aspects of quantum geometry in periodically driven systems in connection with their topological characterization.
In this work, we discuss the topological transformation of quantum dynamics by showing the wave dynamics of a quantum particle on different types of topological structures in various dimensions from the fundamental polygons of the corresponding universal covering spaces. This is not the view from different perspectives of an observer who simply uses different coordinate systems to describe the same physical phenomenon but rather possible geometric and topological structures that quantum particles are endowed with when they are identified with differentiable manifolds that are embedded or immersed in Euclidean spaces of higher dimension. We present our discussions in the form of Bohr model in one, two and three dimensions using linear wave equations. In one dimension, the fundamental polygon is an interval and the universal covering space is the straight line and in this case the standing wave on a finite string is transformed into the standing wave on a circle which can be applied into the Bohr model of the hydrogen atom. In two dimensions, the fundamental polygon is a square and the universal covering space is the plane and in this case, the standing wave on the square is transformed into the standing wave on different surfaces that can be formed by gluing opposite sides of the square, which include a 2-sphere, a 2-torus, a Klein bottle and a projective plane. In three dimensions, the fundamental polygon is a cube and the universal covering space is the three-dimensional Euclidean space. It is shown that a 3-torus and the manifold K × S1 defined as the product of a Klein bottle and a circle can be constructed by gluing opposite faces of a cube. Therefore, in three-dimensions, the standing wave on a cube is transformed into the standing wave on a 3-torus or on the manifold K × S1. We also suggest that the mathematical degeneracy may play an important role in quantum dynamics and be associated with the concept of wavefunction collapse in quantum mechanics.
Periodically driven quantum systems have emerged as one of the most versatile tools for quantum simulation, enabling the engineering of effective Hamiltonians, topological phases, and inherently nonequilibrium phenomena such as discrete time crystals. Yet fundamental challenges persist: from a spectral ambiguity that precludes a unique Floquet ground state to an inability to manipulate Floquet eigenstates beyond the adiabatic regime. This thesis demonstrates that counterdiabatic driving—a technique from adiabatic quantum control—provides a unifying framework to address these challenges. We first show that the periodic lab-frame Hamiltonian generates counterdiabatic driving for the Floquet eigenstates, revealing Floquet theory as an inverse counterdiabatic driving problem. Exploiting this equivalence, we develop geometric Floquet theory: a reformulation based on the parallel-transport gauge, which uniquely decomposes Floquet dynamics into a geometric contribution, encoded in Berry phases, and a dynamical contribution, generated by the average-energy operator. The average-energy operator provides an unambiguous sorting of the quasienergy spectrum, identifies a unique Floquet ground state at all drive frequencies, and serves as a sensitive diagnostic for heating and symmetry-breaking transitions. Inherently nonequilibrium phenomena—the 𝜋-quasienergy splitting of discrete time crystals and the anomalous edge modes of Floquet topological insulators—are traced to geometric phases. On the practical side, we exploit the intrinsic robustness of prethermal discrete time crystals for a highly frequency-selective DTC-based AC magnetic field sensing scheme and demonstrate it experimentally on a nuclear spin quantum simulator. We then generalize counterdiabatic driving to periodically driven systems. In particular, we derive a non-perturbative variational principle for the Floquet adiabatic gauge potential; this yields local, experimentally feasible control protocols for transitionless manipulation of Floquet states. We demonstrate this formalism on Floquet state preparation in an ultracold atom quantum simulator and many-body state transfer across a quantum phase transition, with significant improvements over unassisted protocols in both cases.