Probing disorder-driven topological phase transitions via topological edge modes with ultracold atoms in Floquet-engineered honeycomb lattices

Abstract

One of the most fascinating properties of topological phases of matter is their robustness to disorder and imperfections. Although several experimental techniques have been developed to probe the geometric properties of engineered topological Bloch bands with cold atoms, they almost exclusively rely on the translational invariance of the underlying lattice. This prevents direct studies of topology in the presence of disorder, further hindering an extension to disordered interacting topological phases. Here, we identify disorder-driven phase transitions between two distinct Floquet topological phases using the characteristic properties of topological edge modes with ultracold atoms in periodically-driven two-dimensional (2D) optical lattices. Our results constitute an important step towards studying the rich interplay between topology and disorder with cold atoms. Moreover, our measurements confirm that disorder indeed favors the anomalous Floquet topological regime over conventional Hall systems, indicating an enhanced robustness and paving the way towards observing exotic out-of-equilibrium phases such as the anomalous Floquet Anderson insulator.