Topological charge pump by surface acoustic waves

Quantized electron pumping by the surface acoustic wave across barriers created by a sequence of split metal gates is interpreted from the viewpoint of topology.The surface acoustic wave serves as a one-dimensional periodical potential whose energy spectrum possesses the Bloch band structure.The time-dependent phase plays the role of an adiabatic parameter of the Hamiltonian which induces a geometrical phase.The pumping currents are related to the Chern numbers of the filled bands below the Fermi energy.Based on this understanding,we predict a novel effect of quantized but nonmonotonous current plateaus simultaneously pumped by two homodromous surface acoustic waves.