The Aubry-André-Harper (AAH) model with a self-dual symmetry plays an important role in studying the Anderson localization. Here we find a self-dual symmetry determining the quantum phase transition between extended and localized states in a non-Hermitian AAH model and show that the eigenenergies of these states are characterized by two types of winding numbers. By constructing and studying a non-Hermitian generalized AAH model, we further generalize the notion of the mobility edge, which separates the localized and extended states in the energy spectrum of disordered systems, to the non-Hermitian case and find that the generalized mobility edge is of a topological nature even in the open boundary geometry in the sense that the energies of localized and extended states exhibit distinct topological structures in the complex energy plane. Finally, we propose an experimental scheme to realize these models with electric circuits.
We unveil the geometrical meaning of winding number and utilize it to characterize the topological phases in one-dimensional chiral non-Hermitian systems. While chiral symmetry ensures the winding number of Hermitian systems being integers, it can take half integers for non-Hermitian systems. We give a geometrical interpretation of the half integers by demonstrating that the winding number $ν$ of a non-Hermitian system is equal to half of the summation of two winding numbers $ν_1$ and $ν_2$ associated with two exceptional points respectively. The winding numbers $ν_1$ and $ν_2$ represent the t…
We establish exact relations between the winding of "energy" (eigenvalue of Hamiltonian) on the complex plane as momentum traverses the Brillouin zone with periodic boundary condition, and the presence of "skin modes" with open boundary condition in non-hermitian systems. We show that the nonzero winding with respect to any complex reference energy leads to the presence of skin modes, and vice versa. We also show that both the nonzero winding and the presence of skin modes share the common physical origin that is the non-vanishing current through the system.
Higher-winding phases in one-dimensional non-Hermitian topological superconductors
Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica（中央研究院物理研究所）；Department of Physics, National Taiwan University（国立台湾大学物理系）；Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University（京都大学汤川理论物理研究所）；Physics Division, National Center for Theoretical Sciences（国家理论科学中心物理组）
The non-trivial topological features in the energy band of non-Hermitian systems provide promising pathways to achieve robust physical behaviors in classical or quantum open systems. A key topological feature, unique to non-Hermitian systems, is the non-trivial winding of the energy band in the complex energy plane. Here we provide direct experimental demonstrations of such non-trivial winding, by implementing non-Hermitian lattice Hamiltonians along a frequency synthetic dimension formed in a ring resonator undergoing simultaneous phase and amplitude modulations, and by directly characterizin…
Bulk-boundary correspondence, connecting the bulk topology and the edge states, is an essential principle of the topological phases. However, the bulk-boundary correspondence is broken down in general non-Hermitian systems. In this paper, we construct one-dimensional non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model with periodic driving that exhibits non-Hermitian skin effect: all the eigenstates are localized at the boundary of the systems, whether the bulk states or the zero and the $π$ modes. To capture the topological properties, the non-Bloch winding numbers are defined by the non-Bloch periodize…
Non-Hermitian quantum systems can exhibit unique observables characterizing topologically protected transport in the presence of decay. The topological protection arises from winding numbers associated with non-decaying dark states, which are decoupled from the environment and thus immune to dissipation. Here we develop a classification of topological dynamical phases for one-dimensional quantum systems with periodically-arranged absorbing sites. This is done using the framework of Bloch theory to describe the dark states and associated topological invariants. The observables, such as the aver…
A nonzero non-Hermitian winding number indicates that a gapped system is in a nontrivial topological class due to the non-Hermiticity of its Hamiltonian. While for Hermitian systems nontrivial topological quantum numbers are reflected by the existence of edge states, a nonzero non-Hermitian winding number impacts a system's bulk response. To establish this relation, we introduce the bulk Green function, which describes the response of a gapped system to an external perturbation on timescales where the induced excitations have not propagated to the boundary yet, and show that it will grow in sp…
Non-Hermitian skin effects and exceptional points are topological phenomena characterized by integer winding numbers. In this study, we give methods to theoretically detect skin effects and exceptional points by generalizing inversion symmetry. The generalization of inversion symmetry is unique to non-Hermitian systems. We show that parities of the winding numbers can be determined from energy eigenvalues on the inversion-invariant momenta when generalized inversion symmetry is present. The simple expressions for the winding numbers allow us to easily analyze skin effects and exceptional point…
Quantized response is one distinguishing feature of a topological system. In non-Hermitian systems, the spectral winding topology yields quantized steady-state response. By considering two weakly coupled non-Hermitian chains, we discover that the spectral winding topology of one chain can be probed by a steady-state response defined solely on the other chain, even when other important properties, e.g., {energetics} and entanglement entropy, indicate that eigen-solutions are effectively {not hybridized} between the two chains. This intriguing phenomenon, as carefully investigated in a large par…
We classify topological phases of non-Hermitian systems in the Altland-Zirnbauer classes with an additional reflection symmetry in all dimensions. By mapping the non-Hermitian system into an enlarged Hermitian Hamiltonian with an enforced chiral symmetry, our topological classification is thus equivalent to classifying Hermitian systems with both chiral and reflection symmetries, which effectively change the classifying space and shift the periodical table of topological phases. According to our classification tables, we provide concrete examples for all topologically nontrivial non-Hermitian …
We analyze a quantum walk on a bipartite one-dimensional lattice, in which the particle can decay whenever it visits one of the two sublattices. The corresponding non-Hermitian tight-binding problem with a complex potential for the decaying sites exhibits two different phases, distinguished by a winding number defined in terms of the Bloch eigenstates in the Brillouin zone. We find that the mean displacement of a particle initially localized on one of the non-decaying sites can be expressed in terms of the winding number, and is therefore quantized as an integer, changing from zero to one at t…
This work unveils how geometric features of two-band non-Hermitian Hamiltonians can completely classify the topology of their eigenstates and energy manifolds. Our approach generalizes the Bloch sphere visualization of Hermitian systems to a ``Bloch torus'' picture for non-Hermitian systems, where a singularity ring (SR) captures the degeneracy structure of generic exceptional points. The SR picture affords convenient visualization of various symmetry constraints and reduces their topological characterization to the classification of simple intersection or winding behavior, as detailed by our …
Non-Hermitian generalizations of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) models with higher periods of the hopping coefficients, called the SSH3 and SSH4 models, are analyzed. The conventional construction of the winding number fails for the Hermitian SSH3 model, but the non-Hermitian generalization leads to a topological system due to a point gap on the complex plane. The non-Hermitian SSH3 model thus has a winding number and exhibits the non-Hermitian skin effect. Moreover, the SSH3 model has two types of localized states and a zero-energy state associated with special symmetries. The total Zak phase…
Symmetry-protected spectral topology in non-Hermitian systems has interesting manifestations such as dynamically anomalous chiral currents and skin effect. We study the interplay between symmetries and disorder in a paradigmatic model for spectral topology - the non-reciprocal Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model. We numerically study the effect of disorder in on-site and non-reciprocal hopping terms. Using a real-space winding number, we investigate the impact of disorder on the spectral topology and the anomalous chiral modes under periodic boundary conditions. We discover a remarkable robustness of c…
Topological states of matter in non-Hermitian systems have attracted a lot of attention due to their intriguing dynamical and transport properties. In this study, we propose a periodically driven non-Hermitian lattice model in one-dimension, which features rich Floquet topological phases. The topological phase diagram of the model is derived analytically. Each of its non-Hermitian Floquet topological phases is characterized by a pair of integer winding numbers, counting the number of real 0- and π-quasienergy edge states at the boundaries of the lattice. Non-Hermiticity induced Floquet topolog…
We study a new class of non-Hermitian topological phases in three dimension in the absence of any symmetry, where the topological robust band degeneracies are Hopf-link exceptional lines. As a concrete example, we investigate the non-Hermitian band structures of nodal line semimetals under non-Hermitian perturbations, where the Fermi surfaces can transit from 1d nodal lines to 2d twisting surfaces with Hopf-link boundaries when the winding number defined along the nodal line is $\pm 1$. The linking numbers of these linked exceptional line phases are also proposed, based on the integral of Cher…
Topological characterization of non-Hermitian band structures demands more than a straightforward generalization of the Hermitian cases. Even for one-dimensional tight-binding models with nonreciprocal hopping, the appearance of point gaps and the skin effect leads to the breakdown of the usual bulk-boundary correspondence. Luckily, the correspondence can be resurrected by introducing a winding number for the generalized Brillouin zone for systems with even number of bands and chiral symmetry. Here, we analyze the topological phases of a nonreciprocal hopping model on the stub lattice, where o…
We characterize non-Hermitian band structures by symmetry indicator topological invariants. Enabled by crystalline inversion symmetry, these indicators allow us to short-cut the calculation of conventional non-Hermitian topological invariants. In particular, we express the three-dimensional winding number of point-gapped non-Hermitian systems, which is defined as an integral over the whole Brillouin zone, in terms of symmetry eigenvalues at high-symmetry momenta. Furthermore, for time-reversal symmetric non-Hermitian topological insulators, we find that symmetry indicators characterize the ass…
Majorana edge modes are candidate elements of topological quantum computing. In this work, we purpose a Floquet engineering approach to generate arbitrarily many non-Hermitian Majorana zero and $π$ modes at the edges of a one-dimensional topological superconductor. Focusing on a Kitaev chain with periodically kicked superconducting pairings and gain/losses in the chemical potential or nearest neighbor hopping terms, we found rich non-Hermitian Floquet topological superconducting phases, which are originated from the interplay between drivings and non-Hermitian effects. Each of the phases is ch…
In spatially periodic Hermitian systems, such as electronic systems in crystals, the band structure is described by the band theory in terms of the Bloch wave functions, which reproduce energy levels for large systems with open boundaries. In this paper, we establish a generalized Bloch band theory in one-dimensional spatially periodic tight-binding models. We show how to define the Brillouin zone in non-Hermitian systems. From this Brillouin zone, one can calculate continuum bands, which reproduce the band structure in an open chain. As an example, we apply our theory to the non-Hermitian Su-…
For topological characterization of non-Hermitian multiband systems, Majorana's stellar representation (MSR) is applied to 1D multiband models consisting of asymmetric nearest-neighbor hopping and imaginary on-site potentials. The number of edge states isolated from the continuous bulk bands in the complex energy plane is successfully linked with a topological invariant constructed from MSR. Specifically, the number of isolated edge states can be obtained from a winding number defined for the Majorana stars, which also allows for a geometric visualization of the topology related to the isolate…
A modified periodic boundary condition adequate for non-hermitian topological systems is proposed. Under this boundary condition a topological number characterizing the system is defined in the same way as in the corresponding hermitian system and hence, at the cost of introducing an additional parameter that characterizes the non-hermitian skin effect, the idea of bulk-edge correspondence in the hermitian limit can be applied almost as it is. We develop this framework through the analysis of a non-hermitian SSH model with chiral symmetry, and prove the bulk-edge correspondence in a generalize…
We show that non-Hermiticity enables topological phases with unidirectional transport in one-dimensional Floquet chains. The topological signatures of these phases are non-contractible loops in the spectrum of the Floquet propagator that are separated by an imaginary gap. Such loops occur exclusively in non-Hermitian Floquet systems. We define the corresponding topological invariant as the winding number of the Floquet propagator relative to the imaginary gap. To relate topology to transport, we introduce the concept of regularized dynamics of non-Hermitian chains. We establish that, under the…
Non-Hermiticity is expected to add far more physical features to the already rich Floquet topological phases of matter. Nevertheless, a systematic approach to characterize non-Hermitian Floquet topological matter is still lacking. In this work we introduce a dual scheme to characterize the topology of non-Hermitian Floquet systems in momentum space and in real space, using a piecewise quenched nonreciprocal Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model for our case studies. Under the periodic boundary condition, topological phases are characterized by a pair of experimentally accessible winding numbers that make…
A $d$-dimensional second-order topological insulator (SOTI) can host topologically protected $(d - 2)$-dimensional gapless boundary modes. Here we show that a 2D non-Hermitian SOTI can host zero-energy modes at its corners. In contrast to the Hermitian case, these zero-energy modes can be localized only at one corner. A 3D non-Hermitian SOTI is shown to support second-order boundary modes, which are localized not along hinges but anomalously at a corner. The usual bulk-corner (hinge) correspondence in the second-order 2D (3D) non-Hermitian system breaks down. The winding number (Chern number) …
Topological phases have recently witnessed a rapid progress in non-Hermitian systems. Here we study a one-dimensional non-Hermitian Aubry-André-Harper model with imaginary periodic or quasiperiodic modulations. We demonstrate that the non-Hermitian off-diagonal AAH models can host zero-energy modes at the edges. In contrast to the Hermitian case, the zero-energy mode can be localized only at one edge. Such a topological phase corresponds to the existence of a quarter winding number defined by eigenenergy in momentum space. We further find the coexistence of a zero-energy mode located only at o…
Recently, many novel and exotic phases have been proposed by considering the role of topology in non-Hermitian systems, and their emergent properties are of wide current interest. In this work we propose the non-Hermitian generalization of semi-Dirac semimetals, which feature a linear dispersion along one momentum direction and a quadratic one along the other. We study the topological phase transitions in such two-dimensional semi-Dirac semimetals in the presence of a particle gain-and-loss term. We show that such a non-Hermitian term creates exceptional points originating out of each semi-Dir…
The fermion doubling theorem plays a pivotal role in Hermitian topological materials. It states, for example, that Weyl points must come in pairs in three-dimensional semimetals. Here, we present an extension of the doubling theorem to non-Hermitian lattice Hamiltonians. We focus on two-dimensional non-Hermitian systems without any symmetry constraints, which can host two different types of topological point nodes, namely, (i) Fermi points and (ii) exceptional points. We show that these two types of protected point nodes obey doubling theorems, which require that the point nodes come in pairs.…
Recently, topological quantum states of non-Hermitian systems, exhibiting rich new exotic states, have attracted great attention in condensed-matter physics. As for the demonstration, most of non-Hermitian topological phenomena previously focused on are in one- and two-dimensional systems. Here, we investigate three-dimensional non-Hermitian nodal-line semimetals in the presence of a particle gain-and-loss perturbation. It is found that this perturbation will split the original nodal ring into two exceptional rings (ERs). The topological nature of the bulk electronic structure is characterized…
Curvature-Flux Representation of Local Dirac-Node Topology from Non-Hermitian Zeeman Quantum Geometry
College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University（深圳大学物理与光电工程学院）；Quantum Science Center of Guangdong-Hongkong-Macao Greater Bay Area（粤港澳大湾区量子科学中心）；Department of Physics, The University of Hong Kong（香港大学物理系）
We construct a two-dimensional, discrete-time quantum walk exhibiting non-Hermitian skin effects under open-boundary conditions. As a confirmation of the non-Hermitian bulk-boundary correspondence, we show that the emergence of topological edge states are consistent with Floquet winding numbers calculated using a non-Bloch band theory invoking time-dependent generalized Billouin zones. Further, the non-Bloch topological invariants associated with quasienergy bands are captured by a non-Hermitian local Chern marker in real space, defined through local biorthogonal eigen wave functions of the no…
Non-Hermitian topological phases have gained widespread interest due to their unconventional properties, which have no Hermitian counterparts. In this work, we propose to use machine learning to identify and predict non-Hermitian topological phases, based on their winding number. We consider two examples -- non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model and its generalized version in one dimension and non-Hermitian nodal line semimetal in three dimensions -- to demonstrate the use of neural networks to accurately characterize the topological phases. We show that for the one dimensional model, a full…
Both theoretical and experimental studies of topological phases in non-Hermitian systems have made a remarkable progress in the last few years of research. In this article, we review the key concepts pertaining to topological phases in non-Hermitian Hamiltonians with relevant examples and realistic model setups. Discussions are devoted to both the adaptations of topological invariants from Hermitian to non-Hermitian systems, as well as origins of new topological invariants in the latter setup. Unique properties such as exceptional points and complex energy landscapes lead to new topological in…
