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arXiv:2505.06286 · Nature Physics

Average topological phase in a disordered Rydberg atom array

Zong-Pei Yue, Yu-Feng Mao, Xinhui Liang, Zhen-Xing Hua, Peiyun Ge, Yu-Xin Chao, Kai Li, Jia Chen, Meng Khoon Tey, Yong Xu, Li You

Published Apr 20, 2026• 7 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract Topological phases of matter can appear in noninteracting systems, as in band topology, or interacting systems, such as in spin models, with their defining features typically robust against weak disorder. Intriguingly, disorder itself can also induce topological phases--exemplified by the Anderson topological insulator in noninteracting systems. Experimental studies on disorder-induced topology have so far been limited to band topology. Here we report direct observations of disorder-induced many-body interacting average topological order in an atom array at half-filling, whereby random offsets to tweezer locations forming a lattice implement structural disorder, causing fluctuating long-range dipolar interactions between tweezer confined single atoms. The ground state degeneracy in disordered configurations is detected and compared to the regular lattice. The induced topological phase is vindicated by the spatially resolved atom-atom correlation functions for different forms of dimer compositions. By probing the quench dynamics of a highly excited state, we observe markedly slower decay of edge spin magnetization in comparison to the bulk spin, consistent with the presence of topologically protected edge modes in disordered lattices. Our experiments open a new direction for studying the interplay between disorder and strongly interacting topological matter in Rydberg atom arrays.

DOI
10.1038/s41567-026-03271-x

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•Jun 8, 2020•1 citation
Abstract Topological phases of matter can appear in noninteracting systems, as in band topology, or interacting systems, such as in spin models, with their defining features typically robust against weak disorder. Intriguingly, disorder itself can also induce topological phases--exemplified by the Anderson topological insulator in noninteracting systems. Experimental studies on disorder-induced topology have so far been limited to band topology. Here we report direct observations of disorder-induced many-body interacting average topological order in an atom array at half-filling, whereby random offsets to tweezer locations forming a lattice implement structural disorder, causing fluctuating long-range dipolar interactions between tweezer confined single atoms. The ground state degeneracy in disordered configurations is detected and compared to the regular lattice. The induced topological phase is vindicated by the spatially resolved atom-atom correlation functions for different forms of dimer compositions. By probing the quench dynamics of a highly excited state, we observe markedly slower decay of edge spin magnetization in comparison to the bulk spin, consistent with the presence of topologically protected edge modes in disordered lattices. Our experiments open a new direction for studying the interplay between disorder and strongly interacting topological matter in Rydberg atom arrays.
The concept of topological phases is a powerful framework for characterizing ground states of quantum many-body systems that goes beyond the paradigm of symmetry breaking. Topological phases can appear in condensed-matter systems naturally, whereas the implementation and study of such quantum many-body ground states in artificial matter require careful engineering. Here, we report the experimental realization of a symmetry-protected topological phase of interacting bosons in a one-dimensional lattice and demonstrate a robust ground state degeneracy attributed to protected zero-energy edge states. The experimental setup is based on atoms trapped in an array of optical tweezers and excited into Rydberg levels, which gives rise to hard-core bosons with an effective hopping generated by dipolar exchange interaction.
The topological Anderson and Mott insulators are two phases that have so far been separately and widely explored beyond topological band insulators. Here we combine the two seemingly different topological phases into a system of spin-1/2 interacting fermionic atoms in a disordered optical lattice. We find that the topological Anderson and Mott insulators in the noninteracting and clean limits can be adiabatically connected without gap closing in the phase diagram of our model. Lying between the two phases, we uncover a disordered correlated topological insulator, which is induced from a trivial band insulator by the combination of disorder and interaction, as the generalization of topological Anderson insulators to the many-body interacting regime. The phase diagram is determined by computing various topological properties and confirmed by unsupervised and automated machine learning. We develop an approach to provide a unified and clear description of topological phase transitions driven by interaction and disorder. The topological phases can be detected from disorder-/interaction-induced edge excitations and charge pumping in optical lattices.
Topological states of matter in disordered systems without translation symmetry have attracted great interest in recent years. These states with topological characters are not only robust against certain disorders, but also can be counterintuitively induced by disorders from a topologically trivial phase in the clean limit. In this review, we summarize the current theoretical and experimental progress on disorder-induced topological phases in both condensed-matter and artificial systems. We first introduce the topological Anderson insulators (TAIs) induced by random disorders and their topological characterizations and experimental realizations. We then discuss various extensions of TAIs with unique localization phenomena in quasiperiodic and non-Hermitian systems. We also review the theoretical and experimental studies on the disorder-induced topology in dynamical and many-body systems, including topological Anderson-Thouless pumps, disordered correlated topological insulators and average-symmetry protected topological orders acting as interacting TAI phases. Finally, we conclude the review by highlighting potential directions for future explorations.
One of the most fascinating properties of topological phases of matter is their robustness to disorder and imperfections. Although several experimental techniques have been developed to probe the geometric properties of engineered topological Bloch bands with cold atoms, they almost exclusively rely on the translational invariance of the underlying lattice. This prevents direct studies of topology in the presence of disorder, further hindering an extension to disordered interacting topological phases. Here, we identify disorder-driven phase transitions between two distinct Floquet topological phases using the characteristic properties of topological edge modes with ultracold atoms in periodically-driven two-dimensional (2D) optical lattices. Our results constitute an important step towards studying the rich interplay between topology and disorder with cold atoms. Moreover, our measurements confirm that disorder indeed favors the anomalous Floquet topological regime over conventional Hall systems, indicating an enhanced robustness and paving the way towards observing exotic out-of-equilibrium phases such as the anomalous Floquet Anderson insulator.
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Many-body interactions in topological quantum systems can give rise to new phases of matter, which simultaneously exhibit both rich spatial features and topological properties. In this work, we consider spinless fermions on a checkerboard lattice with nearest and next-to-nearest neighbor interactions. We calculate the phase diagram at half-filling, which presents, in particular, an interaction-induced quantum anomalous Hall phase. We characterize the phase diagram around half-filling using an unrestricted Hartree-Fock ansatz and report a rich zoo of solutions such as polarons and domain walls above an interaction-induced topological insulator. We find that, as a consequence of the interplay between the interaction-induced topology and topological defects, these domain walls separate two phases with opposite topological invariants and host topologically protected chiral edge states. Finally, we discuss experimental prospects to observe these novel phenomena in a quantum simulator based on laser-dressed Rydberg atoms in an optical lattice.