Spectral properties of interacting helical channels driven by Lorentzian pulses

Abstract

Abstract Precise shaping of coherent electron sources allows the controlled creation of wavepackets into a one dimensional (1D) quantum conductor. Periodic trains of Lorentzian pulses have been shown to induce minimal excitations without creating additional electron–hole pairs in a single non-interacting 1D electron channel. The presence of electron–electron (e–e) interactions dramatically affects the non-equilibrium dynamics of a 1D system. Here, we consider the intrinsic spectral properties of a helical liquid, with a pair of counterpropagating interacting channels, in the presence of time-dependent Lorentzian voltage pulses. We show that peculiar asymmetries in the behavior of the spectral function are induced by interactions, depending on the sign of the injected charges. Moreover, we discuss the robustness of the concept of minimal excitations in the presence of interactions, where the link with excess noise is no more straightforward. Finally, we propose a scanning tunneling microscope setup to spectroscopically access and probe the non-equilibrium behavior induced by the voltage drive and e–e interactions. This allows a diagnosis of fractional charges in a correlated quantum spin Hall liquid in the presence of time-dependent drives.