Berry electrodynamics: Anomalous drift and pumping from a time-dependent Berry connection

Abstract

The Berry curvature of a Bloch band can be interpreted as a local magnetic field in reciprocal space. This analogy can be extended by defining an electric field analog in reciprocal space which arises from the time-dependent Berry connection. We explore the term in the semiclassical equation of motion that gives rise to this phenomenon, and show that it can lead to anomalous drift in wave-packet motion. A similar effect arises from changes in the band population due to periodic driving, where the resulting drift depends on the nature of the drive and can be expressed in terms of a shift vector. Finally, these effects can be combined to build a pump with a net anomalous drift during a cyclic evolution in momentum space.