Exciton transport enhancement across quantum Su-Schrieffer-Heeger lattices with quartic nonlinearity

Abstract

In the present work we discuss the propagation of excitons across a one-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger lattice, which possesses both harmonic oscillations and weak quartic anharmonicities. When quantizing these vibrational degrees of freedom we identify several phonon-conserving nonlinearities, each one with a different impact on the excitonic transport. Our analysis identifies a dominant nonlinear correction to the phonon hopping which leads to a strong enhancement of exciton conduction compared to a purely linear vibrational dynamics. Thus quartic lattice nonlinearities can be exploited to induce transitions from localized to delocalized transport, even for very weak amplitudes.