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Emergence of bistability and even-order harmonic generation in a centrosymmetric system under periodic driving

Fumiya Sekiguchi1,*, Yuta Murotani2, and Ryo Shimano1,3,†

  • *Contact author: sekiguchi@crc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
  • †Contact author: shimano@phys.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033041 – Published 10 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/trtr-9173

Abstract

Nonequilibrium states of matter, when driven periodically, can exhibit exotic properties and emergent behaviors that are fundamentally distinct from those in equilibrium systems. To investigate the dynamical behavior of a particle system under time-periodic external forces, we performed numerical simulations of the motion of a particle initially trapped in an inverted Gaussian potential. Under strong driving, the center of motion of the particle shifts away from the origin of the trap potential, either toward the positive or negative direction. This behavior is explained by a time-averaged effective potential of the periodically driven system, which becomes double-well shaped under strong driving and thereby induces bistability with respect to the center of motion. Once the center of motion converges to either of the two local minima of the effective potential, inversion symmetry breaking occurs, giving rise to even-order harmonic generation despite the centrosymmetric nature of the original system. We show that the time-averaged position of the particle can be switched between the bistable points by additional control pulses. Conditions under which subharmonic generation occurs are also discussed. The demonstrated inversion symmetry breaking by periodic driving may lead to a scheme for manipulating localized particles and nonlinear optical responses that are inaccessible in the near-equilibrium regime.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033041– Published 10 July, 2026
  • Received 12 December 2025
  • Revised 14 March 2026
  • Accepted 9 June 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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