Two-dimensional Thouless pumping in time-space crystalline structures

Abstract

Dynamics of particle in a resonantly driven quantum well can be interpreted as that of a particle in a crystal-like structure, with the time playing the role of the coordinate. By introducing an adiabatically varied phase in the driving protocol, we demonstrate a realization of the Thouless pumping in such a time crystalline structure. Next, we extend the analysis beyond a single quantum well by considering a driven one-dimensional optical lattice, thereby engineering a 2D time-space crystalline structure. Such a setup allows us to explore adiabatic pumping in the spatial and the temporal dimensions separately, as well as to simulate simultaneous time-space pumping.