Topological Pump: Charge Transport by Geometry

Thouless pump — one quantum of charge per adiabatic cycle, protected by topology

Controls

Phase: 0.00π
Pumped charge: 0
Chern number: 1

Physics

The Thouless pump (1983) slowly varies a 1D Hamiltonian periodically. After each full cycle, exactly one quantum of charge is transported — protected by the Chern number of the occupied band's Berry phase.

The SSH-like model has hopping:
t₁ = t(1 + δ cos φ), t₂ = t(1 + δ sin φ)

As φ sweeps 0→2π, charge centers shift by one lattice spacing. The Chern number C = 1 means this is topologically robust — small perturbations can't change the quantized transport.

Colors: bright = high electron density, dark = low. Watch the density wave march rightward.