In one-dimensional Hermitian tight-binding models, mobility edges separating extended and localized states can appear in the presence of properly engineered quasi-periodical potentials and coupling constants. On the other hand, mobility edges don't exist in a one-dimensional Anderson lattice since localization occurs whenever a diagonal disorder through random numbers is introduced. Here, we consider a nonreciprocal non-Hermitian lattice and show that the coexistence of extended and localized states appears with or without diagonal disorder in the topologically nontrivial region. We discuss that the mobility edges appear basically due to the boundary condition sensitivity of the nonreciprocal non-Hermitian lattice.
The spectrum of exponents of the transfer matrix provides the localization lengths of Anderson's model for a particle in a lattice with disordered potential. I show that a duality identity for determinants and Jensen's identity for subharmonic functions, give a formula for the spectrum in terms of eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian with non-Hermitian boundary conditions. The formula is exact; it involves an average over a Bloch phase, rather than disorder. A preliminary investigation of non-Hermitian spectra of Anderson's model in D=1,2 and on the smallest exponent is presented.
We study the Anderson transition for three-dimensional (3D) $N \times N \times N$ tightly bound cubic lattices where both real and imaginary parts of onsite energies are independent random variables distributed uniformly between $-W/2$ and $W/2$. Such a non-Hermitian analog of the Anderson model is used to describe random-laser medium with local loss and amplification. We employ eigenvalue statistics to search for the Anderson transition. For 25\% smallest-modulus complex eigenvalues we find the average ratio $r$ of distances to the first and the second nearest neighbor as a function of $W$. F…
We study the characterization and realization of higher-order topological Anderson insulator (HOTAI) in non-Hermitian systems, where the non-Hermitian mechanism ensures extra symmetries as well as gain and loss disorder.We illuminate that the quadrupole moment $Q_{xy}$ can be used as the real space topological invariant of non-Hermitian higher-order topological insulator (HOTI). Based on the biorthogonal bases and non-Hermitian symmetries, we prove that $Q_{xy}$ can be quantized to $0$ or $0.5$. Considering the disorder effect, we find the disorder-induced phase transition from normal insulato…
The critical exponents of continuous phase transitions of a Hermitian system depend on and only on its dimensionality and symmetries. This is the celebrated notion of the universality of continuous phase transitions. Here we report the superuniversality notion of Anderson localization transitions in non-Hermitian two-dimensional (2D) systems with exceptional points in which the critical exponents do not depend on the symmetries. The Anderson localization transitions are numerically studied by using the finite-size scaling analysis of the participation ratios. At the exceptional points of eithe…
An interplay between non-Hermiticity and disorder plays an important role in condensed matter physics. Here, we report the universal critical behaviors of the Anderson transitions driven by non-Hermitian disorders for three dimensional (3D) Anderson model and 3D U(1) model, which belong to 3D class ${\rm AI}^{\dagger}$ and 3D class A in the classification of non-Hermitian systems, respectively. Based on level statistics and finite-size scaling analysis, the critical exponent for length scale is estimated as $ν=0.99\pm 0.05$ for class ${\rm AI}^{\dagger}$, and $ν=1.09\pm 0.05 $ for class A, bot…
We study non-Hermitian Aubry-André-Harper models with p-wave pairing, where the non-Hermiticity is introduced by on-site complex quasiperiodic potentials. By analysing the $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry breaking, winding numbers of energy spectra, localization and fractal dimensions of states, and fate of Majorana fermions, a complete phase diagram on Anderson localization and topological phase transitions is obtained. In particular, the non-Hermitian topological nature of Anderson localization phase transitions from extended to critical and then to localized phases is identified, using both analytic…
Non-Hermitian systems can exhibit unique topological and localization properties. Here we elucidate the non-Hermitian effects on disordered topological systems by studying a non-Hermitian disordered Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model with nonreciprocal hoppings. We show that the non-Hermiticity can enhance the topological phase against disorders by increasing energy gaps. Moreover, we uncover a topological phase which emerges only under both moderate non-Hermiticity and disorders, and is characterized by localized insulating bulk states with a disorder-averaged winding number and zero-energy edge mode…
In a disordered environment, the probability of transmission of a wave reduces with increasing disorder, the ultimate limit of which is the near-zero transmission due to Anderson localization. Under localizing conditions, transport is arrested because the wave is trapped in the bulk of the sample with decaying-exponential coupling to the boundaries. Any further increase in disorder does not modify the overall transport properties. Here, we report the experimental demonstration of a hitherto-unrealized anomalous transport of hybrid particles under localizing disorder in a non-Hermitian setting.…
Disorder and non-Hermiticity dramatically impact the topological and localization properties of a quantum system, giving rise to intriguing quantum states of matter. The rich interplay of disorder, non-Hermiticity, and topology is epitomized by the recently proposed non-Hermitian topological Anderson insulator that hosts a plethora of exotic phenomena. Here we experimentally simulate the non-Hermitian topological Anderson insulator using disordered photonic quantum walks, and characterize its localization and topological properties. In particular, we focus on the competition between Anderson l…
Non-Hermiticity enriches the 10-fold Altland-Zirnbauer symmetry class into the 38-fold symmetry class, where critical behavior of the Anderson transitions (ATs) has been extensively studied recently. Here, we propose a correspondence of the universality classes of the ATs between Hermitian and non-Hermitian systems. We illustrate that the critical exponents of the length scale in non-Hermitian systems coincide with the critical exponents in the corresponding Hermitian systems with additional chiral symmetry. A remarkable consequence of the correspondence is superuniversality, i.e., the ATs in …
We study the spectral rigidity of the non-Hermitian analog of the Anderson model suggested by Tzortzakakis, Makris and Economou (TME). This is a $L\times L \times L$ tightly bound cubic lattice, where both real and imaginary parts of on-site energies are independent random variables uniformly distributed between $-W/2$ and $W/2$. The TME model may be used to describe a random laser. In a recent paper we proved that this model has the Anderson transition at $W= W_c \simeq 6$ in three dimension. Here we numerically diagonalize TME $L \times L \times L$ cubic lattice matrices and calculate the nu…
We investigate the topology and localization of one-dimensional Hermitian and non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chains with quasiperiodic hopping modulations. In the Hermitian case, phase diagrams are obtained by numerically and analytically calculating various topological and localization characters. We show the presence of topological extended, intermediate, and localized phases due to the coexistence of independent topological and localization phase transitions driven by the quasiperiodic disorder. Unlike the gapless and localized TAI phase in one-dimensional random disordered systems, we …
We investigate the Anderson localization in non-Hermitian Aubry-André-Harper (AAH) models with imaginary potentials added to lattice sites to represent the physical gain and loss during the interacting processes between the system and environment. By checking the mean inverse participation ratio (MIPR) of the system, we find that different configurations of physical gain and loss have very different impacts on the localization phase transition in the system. In the case with balanced physical gain and loss added in an alternate way to the lattice sites, the critical region (in the case with p-…
The interplay among topology, disorder, and non-Hermiticity can induce some exotic topological and localization phenomena. Here we investigate this interplay in a two-dimensional non-Hermitian disordered Chern-insulator model with two typical kinds of non-Hermiticities, the nonreciprocal hopping and on-site gain-and-loss effects. The topological phase diagrams are obtained by numerically calculating two topological invariants in the real space, which are the disorder-averaged open-bulk Chern number and the generalized Bott index, respectively. We reveal that the nonreciprocal hopping (the gain…
Anderson localization is a general phenomenon that applies to a variety of disordered physical systems. Recently, a novel manifestation of Anderson localization for wave packets launched with a finite average velocity was proposed, the Quantum boomerang effect (QBE). This phenomenon predicts that the disorder-averaged center of mass of a particle initially moves ballistically, then makes a U-turn, and finally slowly returns to its initial position. The QBE has been predicted to take place in several Hermitian models with Anderson localization and has been experimentally observed in the paradig…
We study a non-Hermitian Aubry-André-Harper model with both nonreciprocal hoppings and complex quasiperiodical potentials, which is a typical non-Hermitian quasicrystal. We introduce boundary-dependent self-dualities in this model and obtain analytical results to describe its Asymmetrical Anderson localization and topological phase transitions. We find that the Anderson localization is not necessarily in accordance with the topological phase transitions, which are characteristics of localization of states and topology of energy spectrum respectively. Furthermore, in the localized phase, single…
Uncorrelated disorder potential in one-dimensional lattice definitely induces Anderson localization, while quasiperiodic potential can lead to both localized and extended phases, depending on the potential strength. We investigate the Anderson localization in one-dimensional lattice with nonHermitian complex disorder and quasiperiodic potential. We present a non-Hermitian SSH chain to demonstrate that a nonzero imaginary disorder on-site potential can induce the standard Anderson localization. We also show that the non-Hermitian Aubry-Andre (AA) model exhibits a transition in parameter space, …
Using a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian approach to open systems, we study the interplay of disorder and superradiance in a one- and three-dimensional Anderson model. Analyzing the complex eigenvalues of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, a transition to a superradiant regime is shown to occur. As an effect of openness the structure of eigenstates undergoes a strong change in the superradiant regime: we show that the sensitivity to disorder of the superradiant and the subradiant subspaces is very different; superradiant states remain delocalized as disorder increases, while subradiant states are sensiti…
Coexistence of topologically nontrivial and trivial insulating states in topological Anderson Chern insulator
Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院物理研究所）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）
A particle with finite initial velocity in a disordered potential comes back and in average stops at the original location. This phenomenon dubbed 'quantum boomerang effect' (QBE) has been recently observed in an experiment simulating the quantum kicked-rotor model [Phys. Rev. X 12, 011035 (2022)]. We provide analytical arguments that support QBE in a wide class of disordered systems. Sufficient conditions to observe the real-space QBE effect are (a) Anderson localization, (b) the reality of the spectrum for the case of non-Hermitian systems, (c) the ensemble of disorder realizations $\{H\}$ b…
In this paper, we present in-depth transfer matrix analyses of the Anderson transition in three non-Hermitian (NH) systems, NH Anderson, U(1) and Peierls models, that belong to NH class AI$^{\dagger}$ or NH class A. We first argue a general validity of the transfer matrix analysis, and clarify the symmetry properties of the Lyapunov exponents, scattering ($S$) matrix and two-terminal conductance in these NH models. The unitarity of the $S$ matrix is violated in NH systems, where the two-terminal conductance can take arbitrarily large values. Nonetheless, we show that the transposition symmetry…
In a closed single-particle quantum system, spatial disorder induces Anderson localization of eigenstates and halts wave propagation. The phenomenon is vulnerable to interaction with environment and decoherence, that is believed to restore normal diffusion. We demonstrate that for a class of experimentally feasible non-Hermitian dissipators, which admit signatures of localization in asymptotic states, quantum particle opts between diffusive and ballistic regimes, depending on the phase parameter of dissipators, with sticking about localization centers. In diffusive regime, statistics of quantu…
Experimental realization of the complete seven-phase Anderson-localization landscape
Department of Physics and State Key Laboratory of Quantum Functional Materials, Southern University of Science and Technology（南方科技大学物理系与量子功能材料国家重点实验室）；Shenzhen Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology（南方科技大学深圳量子科学与工程研究院与广东省量子科学与工程重点实验室）
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…
Eigenmodes of a broad class of "sparse" random matrices, with interactions concentrated near the diagonal, exponentially localize in space, as initially discovered in 1957 by Anderson for quantum systems. Anderson localization plays ubiquitous roles in varieties of problems from electrons in solids to mechanical and optical systems. However, its implications in neuroscience (where the connections can be strongly asymmetric) have been largely unexplored, mainly because synaptic connectivity matrices of neural systems are often "dense", which makes the eigenmodes spatially extended. Here, we exp…
Exceptional points, that are spectral degeneracies in the parameter space of non-Hermitian systems, have evoked a massive interest in the optical domain owing to their striking consequences on optical behavior of commonly known systems. Through careful engineering of gain and loss, exceptional points have been demonstrated in a variety of photonic systems ranging from optical fibers to chaotic cavities, exhibiting extra-ordinary phenomena and augmented functionalities. However, in the domain of disordered systems, there are still no realizations of exceptional points even though mode-coupling …
It is commonly believed that Anderson localized states and extended states do not coexist at the same energy. Here we propose a simple mechanism to achieve the coexistence of localized and extended states in a band in a class of disordered quasi-1D and quasi-2D systems. The systems are partially disordered in a way that a band of extended states always exists, not affected by the randomness, whereas the states in all other bands become localized. The extended states can overlap with the localized states both in energy and in space, achieving the aforementioned coexistence. We demonstrate such …
We develop a theory for the eigenvalue density of arbitrary non-Hermitian Euclidean matrices. Closed equations for the resolvent and the eigenvector correlator are derived. The theory is applied to the random Green's matrix relevant to wave propagation in an ensemble of point-like scattering centers. This opens a new perspective in the study of wave diffusion, Anderson localization, and random lasing.
We demonstrate the existence of generalized Aubry-André self-duality in a class of non-Hermitian quasi-periodic lattices with complex potentials. From the self-duality relations, the analytical expression of mobility edges is derived. Compared to Hermitian systems, mobility edges in non-Hermitian ones not only separate localized from extended states, but also indicate the coexistence of complex and real eigenenergies, making it possible a topological characterization of mobility edges. An experimental scheme, based on optical pulse propagation in synthetic photonic mesh lattices, is suggested …
