Detecting topological edge states with the dynamics of a qubit

Abstract We consider the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) chain, which has 0, 1, or 2 topological edge states depending on the ratio of the hopping parameters and the parity of the chain length. We couple a qubit to one edge of the SSH chain and a semi-infinite undimerized chain to the other, and evaluate the dynamics of the qubit. By evaluating the decoherence rate of the qubit we can probe the edge states of the SSH chain. The rate shows strong even-odd oscillations as a function of site number, reflecting the presence or absence of edge states. Hence, the qubit acts as an efficient detector of the topological edge states of the SSH model. This can be generalized to other topological systems.