Observation of a prethermal discrete time crystal
Observation of a prethermal discrete time crystal
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DOI：
10.1126/science.abg8102
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发表时间：
2021-06-11
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
Monroe, C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kyprianidis, A.;Machado, F.;Monroe, C.
将统计物理的框架扩展到非平衡状态，导致发现了以前未确定的物质相，通常是由周期驱动催化的。然而，在研究这些新发现的相时，防止与驱动强相互作用量子系统相关的失控加热仍然是一个挑战。在这项工作中，我们利用捕获离子量子模拟器来观察无无序的非平衡驱动相-预热离散时间晶体的特征。在这里，加热问题不是通过无序诱导的多体局部化来解决的，而是通过高频驱动来解决的，这导致了一个扩展的时间窗口，在这个时间窗口中可以出现非平衡相。因此，Floquet预热化被认为是创造、稳定和研究物质本质上不平衡相的一般策略。
Extending the framework of statistical physics to the nonequilibrium setting has led to the discovery of previously unidentified phases of matter, often catalyzed by periodic driving. However, preventing the runaway heating that is associated with driving a strongly interacting quantum system remains a challenge in the investigation of these newly discovered phases. In this work, we utilize a trapped-ion quantum simulator to observe the signatures of a nonequilibrium driven phase without disorder-the prethermal discrete time crystal. Here, the heating problem is circumvented not by disorder-induced many-body localization, but rather by high-frequency driving, which leads to an expansive time window where nonequilibrium phases can emerge. Floquet prethermalization is thus presented as a general strategy for creating, stabilizing, and studying intrinsically out-of-equilibrium phases of matter.