Observation of nonlinear edge states in an interacting atomic trimer array

Huiying Du; Hongxing Zhao; Yuqing Li; Yunfei Wang; Rujiang Li; Jizhou Wu; Wenliang Liu; Yiqi Zhang; Liantuan Xiao; Suotang Jia; Jie Ma

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-01997-6

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Observation of nonlinear edge states in an interacting atomic trimer array

Original Articles

- Observation of nonlinear edge states in an interacting atomic trimer array
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 14, Issue 10, Pages: 3163-3169(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics Technologies and Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China
  2.Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China
  3.Hefei National Laboratory, Hefei 230088, China
  4.Key Laboratory of Antennas and Microwave Technology, School of Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi’an 710071, China
  5.Key Laboratory for Physical Electronics and Devices, Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
- Author bio：
  
  Yuqing Li (lyqing.2006@163.com)
  Yiqi Zhang (zhangyiqi@xjtu.edu.cn)
  Jie Ma (mj@sxu.edu.cn)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-01997-6
  CLC：
- Received：24 March 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-07-15，
  
  Accepted：31 July 2025，
  
  Published Online：28 August 2025，
  
  Published：31 October 2025
- Accepted：
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Du, H. Y. et al. Observation of nonlinear edge states in an interacting atomic trimer array. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 3163-3169 (2025).
DOI：

Du, H. Y. et al. Observation of nonlinear edge states in an interacting atomic trimer array. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 3163-3169 (2025). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-01997-6.

摘要

Abstract

Exploring the interplay between topology and nonlinearity leads to an emerging field of nonlinear topological physics

which extends the study of fascinating properties of topological states to a regime where interactions between the particles cannot be neglected. For ultracold atomic systems

although many exotic topological states have been recently observed

the nonlinear effect remains elusive. Here

based on the laser-driven couplings of discrete atomic momentum states

we synthesize a topological trimer array

where the atomic interactions give rise to tunable nonlinearities. We observe the formation of nonlinear edge states in the density population evolution and participation ratio with increasing interaction

in contrast to the diffusive transport in a broad interaction range in nontopological arrays. Furthermore

we show the impact of interactions on the population distribution evolved from the initialized single-site population. Our work opens the avenue for exploring emergent nonlinear topological behaviors in ultracold atomic gases.

关键词

Keywords

references

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