https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/s10051-026-01132-3
Research - Condensed Matter
Zitterbewegung of Dirac quasiparticles in a periodically modulated potential
1
Key Laboratory of Atomic and Subatomic Structure and Quantum Control (Ministry of Education), Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Structure and Fundamental Interactions of Matter, School of Physics, South China Normal University, 510006, Guangzhou, China
2
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, Guangdong–Hong Kong Joint Laboratory of Quantum Matter, Frontier Research Institute for Physics, South China Normal University, 510006, Guangzhou, China
a
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
b
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
c
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
d
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Received:
14
November
2025
Accepted:
24
January
2026
Published online:
16
March
2026
Abstract
We investigate the dynamical properties of Dirac particles under a periodically modulated potential. The results reveal that the periodically modulated potential induces multi-frequency Zitterbewegung. This driving field also enhances the splitting speed of the Dirac particles’ positive- and negative-energy branches, thereby shortening the coherence time and ultimately reducing the lifetime of Zitterbewegung. Further analytical and numerical results indicate that the lifetime of Zitterbewegung decreases (remains unchanged) for an even (odd) ratio of the periodic driving intensity to the effective mass. Furthermore, momentum analysis confirms that the overlapping area between the positive- and negative-energy branches reduces when the ratio is even. The underlying mechanism is that when the ratio is an even (odd) number, the periodically modulated potential is equivalent to performing a 
(
) phase modulation on the evolution operator, resulting in coherent cancellation (coherent superposition) during the evolution of the wave function. Since the periodically modulated potential can be conveniently generated in cold atom systems through acousto-optic modulators, the phenomenon predicted here is expected to be realized in ultracold atom lattice systems.
Copyright comment Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
Shu-Ting Zhang and Wei-Lin Li contributed equally to this work and designated as co-first authors.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, SIF and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2026
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
