Experimental Observation of a Generalized Thouless Pump with a Single Spin

Abstract

Adiabatic cyclic modulation of a one-dimensional periodic potential will result in quantized charge transport, which is termed the Thouless pump. In contrast to the original Thouless pump restricted by the topology of the energy band, here we experimentally observe a generalized Thouless pump that can be extensively and continuously controlled. The extraordinary features of the new pump originate from interband coherence in nonequilibrium initial states, and this fact indicates that a quantum superposition of different eigenstates individually undergoing quantum adiabatic following can also be an important ingredient unavailable in classical physics. The quantum simulation of this generalized Thouless pump in a two-band insulator is achieved by applying delicate control fields to a single spin in diamond. The experimental results demonstrate all principal characteristics of the generalized Thouless pump. Because the pumping in our system is most pronounced around a band-touching point, this work also suggests an alternative means to detect quantum or topological phase transitions.