Aperiodic dissipation as a mechanism for steady-state localization
Phys. Rev. B 112, 155409 – Published 10 October, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/qprv-gf5g
Abstract
Dissipation is traditionally regarded as a disruptive factor in quantum systems because it often leads to decoherence and delocalization. However, recent insights into engineered dissipation reveal that it can be tuned to facilitate various quantum effects, from state stabilization to phase transitions. In this work, we identify aperiodic dissipation as a mechanism for inducing steady-state localization, independent of disorder or a quasiperiodic potential in the Hamiltonian. This localization arises from long-range phase correlations introduced by a spatially varying dissipation phase parameter, which enables nontrivial interference in the steady state. By systematically comparing two classes of aperiodic dissipation (defined as commensurate and incommensurate cases), we conclude that both can lead to localization in the thermodynamic limit. Our analysis, based on coherence measures, purity, and participation ratio, reveals a direct link between eigenstate coherence and real-space localization, showing that dissipation can actively shape localization rather than simply causing decoherence. These findings highlight aperiodic dissipation as a viable approach to controlling localization in open quantum systems, potentially enabling new ways to manipulate quantum states and design dissipation-driven phases.
