Coexistence of extended and localized states in finite-sized mosaic Wannier-Stark lattices
Jun Gao, Ivan M. Khaymovich, Adrian Iovan, Xiao‐Wei Wang, Govind Krishna, Ze-Sheng Xu, Emrah Tortumlu, Alexander V. Balatsky, Val Zwiller, Ali W. Elshaari
Abstract
The transport of quantum particles and their possible localization are fundamental concepts in physics. Such particles are known to get stuck in strong electric fields due to the Wannier-Stark effect. But what will happen with this particle localization if the electric potential is present only on every second site? To answer this question, the authors mimic here the behavior of quantum particles with light in optical waveguides (shown in the image) and demonstrate that in finite systems there are both extended states, carrying the transport, and localized ones that are stuck. This first step opens the possibility to use this system as an encoder of quantum information in a compact way.