Topological Rice-Mele model in an emergent lattice: Exact diagonalization approach

Abstract: Using exact diagonalization methods we study possible phases in a one dimensional model of two differently populated fermionic species in a periodically driven optical lattice. The shaking amplitude and frequency are chosen to resonantly drive $s-p$ transition while minimizing the standard intraband tunnelings. We numerically verify that in the vicinity of vanishing intraband tunnelings the system, for an appropriate filling, shows an emergent density wave configuration of composites. The majority fermions moving in such a lattice mimic the celebrated Rice-Mele model. Far away from that region structure changes to clustered phase, with intermediate phase abundantly populated by defects of the density wave. These defects lead to loclaized modes carrying fractional particle charge. The results obtained are compared with earlier mean field approximation predictions.