Topologically Enforced Bifurcations in Superconducting Circuits

Phys Rev Lett. 2017 May 12;118(19):197702. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.197702. Epub 2017 May 11.

Abstract

The relationship of topological insulators and superconductors and the field of nonlinear dynamics is widely unexplored. To address this subject, we adopt the linear coupling geometry of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, a paradigmatic example for a topological insulator, and render it nonlinearly in the context of superconducting circuits. As a consequence, the system exhibits topologically enforced bifurcations as a function of the topological control parameter, which finally gives rise to chaotic dynamics, separating phases that exhibit clear topological features.