Dissipation induced quantum transport on a finite one-dimensional lattice

Abstract

We construct a dissipation induced quantum transport scheme by coupling a finite lattice of $N$ two-level systems to an environment with a discrete number of energy levels. With the environment acting as a reservoir of energy excitations, we show that the coupling between the system and the environment gives rise to a mechanism for excited states of the system to be efficiently transported from one end of the lattice to another. We also show that we can adjust the efficiency of the quantum transport scheme by varying the spacing between energy levels of the system, by decreasing the ground state energy level of the environment, and by weakening the coupling between the system and the environment. A possible realization of this quantum transport scheme using ultracold atoms in a lattice coupled to a reservoir of energy excitations is briefly discussed at the end of this paper.