Periodically-driven quantum matter: the case of resonant modulations

Abstract: Quantum systems can show qualitatively new forms of behavior when they are driven by fast time-periodic modulations. In the limit of large driving frequency, the long-time dynamics of such systems can often be described by a time-independent effective Hamiltonian, which is generally identified through a perturbative treatment. Here, we present a general formalism that describes time-modulated physical systems, in which the driving frequency is large, but resonant with respect to energy spacings inherent to the system at rest. Such a situation is currently exploited in optical-lattice setups, where superlattice (or Wannier-Stark-ladder) potentials are resonantly modulated so as to control the tunneling matrix elements between lattice sites, offering a powerful method to generate artificial fluxes for cold-atom systems. The formalism developed in this work identifies the basic ingredients needed to generate interesting flux patterns and band structures using resonant modulations. Additionally, our approach allows for a simple description of the micro-motion underlying the dynamics; we illustrate its characteristics based on diverse dynamic-lattice configurations. It is shown that the impact of the micro-motion on physical observables strongly depends on the implemented scheme, suggesting that a theoretical description in terms of the effective Hamiltonian alone is generally not sufficient to capture the full time-evolution of the system.