Energy pumping, quantum state boosting, and new topological phases of matter with multi-tone driving*

Quantum simulators provide experimental access to the dynamics many body quantum systems coupled to a driving field. We show that this setting allows for new and robust topological phases of driven quantum matter: in systems of particles driven by multi-tone drives, we uncover the “anomalous localised topological phase” characterised by quantised edge modes which non-adiabatically pump energy. This phase has no analogue in static systems, and is robust to the presence of interactions.

 

The quantised pumping provides microscopic control over field modes: when one (or more) of the driving tones corresponds to a quantised field mode, as in cavity QED systems, energy pumping gives a coherent and controllable way of transferring photons into/from a field mode. This allows the coherent “boosting” of mode state to higher photon numbers, giving a new tool for the production of non-classical states of light, such as Fock and Cat states.