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Experimental measurement of the Berry curvature from anomalous transport

Nature Physics volume 13, pages 545–550 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

The geometric properties of energy bands underlie fascinating phenomena in many systems, including solid-state, ultracold gases and photonics. The local geometric characteristics such as the Berry curvature1 can be related to global topological invariants such as those classifying the quantum Hall states or topological insulators. Regardless of the band topology, however, any non-zero Berry curvature can have important consequences, such as in the semi-classical evolution of a coherent wavepacket. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that the wavepacket dynamics can be used to directly map out the Berry curvature. To this end, we use optical pulses in two coupled fibre loops to study the discrete time evolution of a wavepacket in a one-dimensional geometric ‘charge’ pump, where the Berry curvature leads to an anomalous displacement of the wavepacket. This is both the first direct observation of Berry curvature effects in an optical system, and a proof-of-principle demonstration that wavepacket dynamics can serve as a high-resolution tool for mapping out geometric properties.

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Figure 1: Generation of photonic mesh lattices by time multiplexing.
Figure 2: Anomalous transport of a wavepacket.
Figure 3: Experimental reconstruction of the Berry curvature.

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Acknowledgements

M.W. acknowledges financial support from the Erlangen Graduate School of Advanced Optical Technologies. Additionally, M.W. would like to thank M. Kremer and A. Bisianov for fruitful discussions. Furthermore, this project was supported by PE 523/14-1 and by the GRK2101 funded by the DFG. H.M.P. was supported by the EC through the H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action, Individual Fellowship Grant No. 656093 SynOptic. I.C. was funded by the EU-FET Proactive grant AQuS, Project No. 640800, and by Provincia Autonoma di Trento, partially through the project ‘On silicon chip quantum optics for quantum computing and secure communications (SiQuro)’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies (SAOT), 91058 Erlangen, Germany

    Martin Wimmer

  2. Institute of Solid State Theory and Optics, Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany

    Martin Wimmer & Ulf Peschel

  3. INO-CNR BEC Center and Department of Physics, University of Trento, via Sommarive 14, 38123 Povo, Italy

    Hannah M. Price & Iacopo Carusotto

Authors
  1. Martin Wimmer
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  2. Hannah M. Price
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  3. Iacopo Carusotto
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  4. Ulf Peschel
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Contributions

M.W. performed the experiments; all authors contributed to the theoretical background and the interpretation of the measurement.

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Correspondence to Ulf Peschel.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Wimmer, M., Price, H., Carusotto, I. et al. Experimental measurement of the Berry curvature from anomalous transport. Nature Phys 13, 545–550 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4050

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