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Emergence of criticality through a cascade of delocalization transitions in quasiperiodic chains

Authors :
Alberto Amo
Antonio Štrkalj
V. Goblot
N. Pernet
Sylvain Ravets
Isabelle Sagnes
L. Le Gratiet
A. Harouri
C. Dorow
Jose L. Lado
Aristide Lemaître
Jacqueline Bloch
Oded Zilberberg
Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies (C2N)
Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Physics Department (ETHZ)
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich] (ETH Zürich)
Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Atomes et Molécules - UMR 8523 (PhLAM)
Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Université Paris-Saclay
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
Department of Applied Physics
University of Lille
Aalto-yliopisto
Aalto University
ANR-16-CE30-0021,QFL,Fluides Quantiques de Lumière(2016)
Centre de Nanosciences et Nanotechnologies (C2N (UMR_9001))
Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Institute for Theoretical Physics [ETH Zürich] (ITP)
Department of Physics [ETH Zürich] (D-PHYS)
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich] (ETH Zürich)- Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich] (ETH Zürich)
Source :
Nature Physics, Nature Physics, Nature Publishing Group, 2020, 16 (8), pp.832-836. ⟨10.1038/s41567-020-0908-7⟩, Nature Physics, 2020, 16 (8), pp.832-836. ⟨10.1038/s41567-020-0908-7⟩, Nature Physics, 16 (8)
Publication Year :
2019

Abstract

Conduction through materials crucially depends on how ordered they are. Periodically ordered systems exhibit extended Bloch waves that generate metallic bands, whereas disorder is known to limit conduction and localize the motion of particles in a medium. In this context, quasiperiodic systems, which are neither periodic nor disordered, reveal exotic conduction properties, self-similar wavefunctions, and critical phenomena. Here, we explore the localization properties of waves in a novel family of quasiperiodic chains obtained when continuously interpolating between two paradigmatic limits: the Aubry-Andr\'e model, famous for its metal-to-insulator transition, and the Fibonacci chain, known for its critical nature. Using both theoretical analysis and experiments on cavity-polariton devices, we discover that the Aubry-Andr\'e model evolves into criticality through a cascade of band-selective localization/delocalization transitions that iteratively shape the self-similar critical wavefunctions of the Fibonacci chain. Our findings offer (i) a unique new insight into understanding the criticality of quasiperiodic chains, (ii) a controllable knob by which to engineer band-selective pass filters, and (iii) a versatile experimental platform with which to further study the interplay of many-body interactions and dissipation in a wide range of quasiperiodic models.<br />Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures + supplementary material (9 pages, 6 figures, 2 videos), comments are welcome

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
17452473 and 14764636
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Nature Physics, Nature Physics, Nature Publishing Group, 2020, 16 (8), pp.832-836. ⟨10.1038/s41567-020-0908-7⟩, Nature Physics, 2020, 16 (8), pp.832-836. ⟨10.1038/s41567-020-0908-7⟩, Nature Physics, 16 (8)
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....b608608f5fb86ee2123f7d25320eb809
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-0908-7⟩