Quantized Thouless charge pumping in a system with onsite quasiperiodic disorder

Thouless charge pumping or transport of quantum mechanical particles through a periodic modulation of the system Hamiltonian exhibiting a topological phase transition is known to be unstable in the presence of strong disorder in the system. In this paper, however, we show that in a one-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger lattice, an onsite quasiperiodic disorder favors a quantized particle transport and hence a robust Thouless charge pumping. This unusual property is found to be due to an emergence of a topological to trivial phase transition as the quasiperiodic disorder strength is increased. This transition allows us to propose a nonstandard pumping scheme where a periodic modulation of the disorder strength also favors a quantized Thouless charge pump. Our model and prediction may be simulated in state-of-the-art ultracold atomic setups.