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Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Formation of generalized Wannier-Stark ladders: Theorem and applications

H. P. Zhang, Z. Song

Published Jan 23, 2025• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

For noninteracting systems, Wannier-Stark ladders (WSLs) describe electronic state quantization in crystals under constant electric fields, related to Bloch oscillations. The authors develop here a theory for interacting Hamiltonians with translational symmetry and linear potentials, possessing WSLs. They illustrate this using 1D extended Bose-Hubbard models with real and imaginary hopping strengths.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.111.014313

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For noninteracting systems, Wannier-Stark ladders (WSLs) describe electronic state quantization in crystals under constant electric fields, related to Bloch oscillations. The authors develop here a theory for interacting Hamiltonians with translational symmetry and linear potentials, possessing WSLs. They illustrate this using 1D extended Bose-Hubbard models with real and imaginary hopping strengths.
The Wannier-Stark ladder (WSL) is a basic concept, supporting periodic oscillation, widely used in many areas of physics. In this paper, we investigate the formations of WSL in generalized systems, including strongly correlated and non-Hermitian systems. We present a theorem on the existence of WSL for a set of general systems that are translationally symmetric before the addition of a linear potential. For a non-Hermitian system, the WSL becomes complex but maintains a real energy level spacing. We illustrate the theorem using 1D extended Bose-Hubbard models with both real and imaginary hopping strengths. It is shown that the Bloch-Zener oscillations of correlated bosons are particularly remarkable under resonant conditions. Numerical simulations for cases with boson numbers n=2n=2n=2, 333, and 444 are presented. Analytical and numerical results for the time evolution of the nnn-boson-occupied initial state indicate that all evolved states exhibit quasi periodic oscillations, but with different profiles, depending on the Hermiticity and interaction strength.
According to Faraday's law in classical physics, a varying magnetic field stimulates an electric eddy field. Intuitively, when a classical field is constant and imposed on a lattice, the Wannier-Stark ladders (WSL) can be established, resulting in Bloch oscillations. In this work, we investigate the dynamics of an interacting system on a (generalized) ring lattice threaded by a varying magnetic flux. Based on the rigorious results, we demonstrate that there exist many invariant subspaces in which the dynamics is periodic when the flux varies linearly over time. Nevertheless, for a given initial state, the evolved state differs from that driven by a linear field. However, the probability distributions of the two states are identical, referred to as the quantum analogue of Faraday's law. Our results are ubiquitous for a wide variety of interacting systems. We demonstrate these results through numerical simulations in an extended fermi-Hubbard model.
Stimulated by the experimental realization of spin-dependent tunneling via a gradient magnetic field [C. J. Kennedy et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 225301 (2013); M. Aidelsburger et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 185301 (2013)], we investigate the dynamics of Bloch oscillations and Landau-Zener tunneling of single spin-half particles in a periodic potential under the influence of a spin-dependent constant force. In analogy to the Wannier-Stark system, we call our system the Wannier-Zeeman system. If there is no coupling between the two spin states, the system can be described by two crossing Wannier-Stark ladders with opposite tilts. The spatial crossing between two Wannier-Stark ladders becomes a spatial anticrossing if the two spin states are coupled by external fields. For a wave packet away from the spatial anticrossing, due to the spin-dependent constant force, it will undergo spatial Landau-Zener transitions assisted by the intrinsic intraband Bloch oscillations, which we call the Bloch-Landau-Zener dynamics. If the interspin coupling is sufficiently strong, the system undergoes adiabatic Bloch-Landau-Zener dynamics, in which the spin dynamics follows the local dressed states. Otherwise, for nonstrong interspin couplings, the system undergoes nonadiabatic Bloch-Landau-Zener dynamics.
We report the first observation of atomic Wannier-Stark ladders in a potential formed by an accelerating standing wave of light.1 This is a fundamental effect of quantum transport in optical lattices. Wannier-Stark ladder resonances were predicted to occur in the band structure of an electron moving in a periodic lattice with a dc electric field, and have been recently observed in superlattices. Our work is the first spectroscopic study of Wannier-Stark ladders free from complications such as the impurities, lattice vibrations, and multi-particle interactions present in solids.
Periodic Wannier–Stark ladder structures of the energy resonances associated with Bloch oscillations can be readily modified into quasi-periodic ones that exhibit peculiar self-similar effects. A compact theoretical description of the dynamics of driven Bloch oscillations is developed here within the quasi-momentum representation. We identify a rather viable scheme based on ultracold atomic wavepackets subject to gravity in a driven optical lattice potential where a self-similar scaling could be observed. Its feasibility in terms of realistic experimental parameters is also discussed.
Abstract The Born–Fock theorem is one of the most fundamental theorems of quantum mechanics and forms the basis for reliable and efficient navigation in the Hilbert space of a quantum system with a time-dependent Hamiltonian by adiabatic evolution. In the absence of level crossings, i.e. without degeneracies, and under adiabatic time evolution all eigenstates of the Hamiltonian keep their energetic order, labeled by a conserved integer quantum number. Thus, controlling the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian and their energetic order in asymptotic limits allows one to engineer a perfect adiabatic transfer between a large number of initial and target states. The fidelity of the state transfer is only limited by adiabaticity and the selection of target states is controlled by the integer invariant labeling the order of eigenstates. We show here, for the example of a finite superlattice Wannier-Stark ladder, i.e. a one-dimensional lattice with alternating hopping amplitudes and constant potential gradient, that such an adiabatic control of eigenstates can be used to induce perfectly quantized single-particle transport across a pre-determined number of lattice sites. We dedicate this paper to the memory of our late friend and colleague Bruce Shore, who was an expert in adiabatic processes and taught us much about this field.