Energy polarization and energy pumping in Rice-Mele chains

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that energy can be pumped in Rice-Mele chains through topological mechanisms, independent of temperature, by analyzing energy polarization and currents during adiabatic cycles.

Contribution

It introduces a formalism connecting energy polarization to intercell energy current and shows energy pumping is topologically protected and temperature-independent.

Findings

Energy pumping occurs in Rice-Mele chains during adiabatic cycles.

Pumped energy is independent of temperature at half filling.

Topological phase transitions govern the energy pumping process.

Abstract

The one-dimensional Rice-Mele lattice consisting of two-site unit cells enables topological charge pumping at low enough temperatures. We show here that energy pumping is feasible in this system. We analyze energy polarization using the second-quantization formalism and connect it to intercell energy current by the relevant continuity equation. Following this formulation, we numerically evaluate the energy current pumped in an adiabatic cycle when the system parameters vary periodically and slowly with time. Unlike the pumped charge, the pumped energy is entirely temperature-independent at half filling. The global Berry phase for all bands and the related topological phase transitions during the pumping cycle account for the energy pumping. The present study paves the way for manipulating energy current without electric and thermal biases.