Perfect Zitterbewegung oscillations in the Kitaev chain system

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates perfect, non-decaying Zitterbewegung oscillations in the Kitaev chain, and shows how to convert these oscillations into long-distance particle-hole separation through Hamiltonian modulation.

Contribution

It reveals that Kitaev chains support undistorted ZB oscillations of arbitrary wavepacket size and introduces a method to induce particle-hole separation via parameter modulation.

Findings

ZB oscillations are non-decaying and can be of arbitrary size.

Hamiltonian modulation enables conversion of ZB into particle-hole separation.

Long-distance particle-hole separation is achievable in the Kitaev system.

Abstract

Superconducting systems such as those modeled by the Kitaev Hamiltonian are found to exhibit the Zitterbewegung (ZB) oscillations. Remarkably, the dispersion relation in one-dimensional Kitaev systems allows for wavepackets of arbitrary size undergoing non-decaying ZB without any distortion, with the typical ZB amplitude being one lattice site. To motivate possible experimental interest in this dynamical aspect of superconducting systems, we further show that certain on-resonance modulation of the Hamiltonian parameter can be exploited to convert ZB oscillations to net drifting of particle's wavepacket and hole's wavepacket along opposite directions, leading to long-distance particle-hole separation.