Realization of a Quantum Topological Photon Pump

Abstract

Topological pumps transfer charge or energy at quantized rates determined solely by band topology, independent of the details of the control fields. Photon pumps operating on this principle could enable the robust preparation of non-classical states in a quantum cavity, even in the presence of control imperfections, but have not been directly observed. We present the first experimental observation of a topological photon pump, using a transmon qubit coupled to a microwave cavity. The pump operates in the quantum regime, pumping up from the vacuum state up to $\approx 7$ photons, and produces demonstrably non-classical cavity states for the first few cycles.