Sonja Barkhofen

We report on a photonic simulator of the critical state forming at the quantum phase transition between topologically distinct Anderson insulator phases. We observe a time-staggered profile in the circular photon polarization, which originates from the interplay of a chiral and sublattice symmetry, and has recently been suggested as a signature for topological Anderson criticality within the setup.

Measurements on a quantum particle unavoidably affect its state, since the otherwise unitary evolution of the system is interrupted by a nonunitary projection operation. To probe measurement-induced effects in the state dynamics using a quantum simulator, the challenge is to implement controlled measurements on a small subspace of the system and continue the evolution from the complementary subspace.