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  • Open Access

Interaction-Assisted Topological Pumping in Few- and Many-Atom Rydberg Arrays

Chenxi Huang1,2, Tao Chen1,2,*, Qian Liang2, Matthew A. Krebs2, Ethan Springhorn2, Ruiyu Li2, Mingsheng Tian2, Kaden R. A. Hazzard3,4, Jacob P. Covey1 et al.

Bryce Gadway1,2,†

  • *Present address: School of Physics, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China.
  • †Contact author: bgadway@psu.edu
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Phys. Rev. X 16, 031075 – Published 21 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/bf85-ydvh

Abstract

Topology can imbue lattice systems with special properties, notably, the presence of robust eigenstates living at their boundary. Through dimensional reduction, the robust bulk band topology of, e.g., the integer quantum Hall system can be mapped onto similarly robust charge-pumping dynamics of a topological pump living in one lower dimension. Recent studies have uncovered a rich influence of interactions on the dynamics of topological pumps in nonlinear systems, including the robust pumping of self-bound solitons. These striking observations in classical nonlinear photonics have raised a number of questions, chiefly if and how this phenomenology persists in strongly correlated quantum systems and in the few-body limit. Here, using few- and many-atom arrays, we explore how dipolar interactions impact the dynamics of topological population pumping along a Rydberg synthetic dimension. In the few-body limit, we find that dipolar interactions lead to self-bound states that are efficiently pumped along the synthetic dimension, described by an emergent pair-state topological pump. We find that this interaction-assisted pumping persists in many-atom arrays, with a sharpened dependence on the dipolar interaction strength that stems from the enhanced spatial connectivity. These Rydberg-based studies on interaction-assisted topological pumping help connect observations from classical nonlinear photonics to the few-body quantum limit and pave the way for studies of new strongly correlated topological phenomena.

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Popular Summary

Topological pumping enables quantized transport of charge without an external bias, but understanding how strong particle interactions affect this transport process in strongly correlated quantum systems remains a significant challenge in modern physics. We investigate this dynamic by utilizing microwave-engineered synthetic dimensions to realize a topological pump along the internal states of interacting Rydberg atom arrays. We find that strong dipolar interactions bind the atoms into correlated pairs that are efficiently pumped across the synthetic lattice. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this interaction-assisted transport persists in larger two-dimensional atomic arrays and depends clearly on the collective interaction strength of the entire system. Our findings bridge the gap between classical nonlinear photonics and the few-body quantum limit, thereby paving the way for future studies of strongly correlated topological phenomena.

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Phys. Rev. X 16, 031075– Published 21 September, 2026
  • Received 4 January 2026
  • Accepted 1 September 2026
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