Critical prethermal discrete time crystal created by two-frequency drivingShow others and affiliations
2023 (English)In: Nature Physics, ISSN 1745-2473, E-ISSN 1745-2481, Vol. 19, no 3, p. 407-413Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Discrete time crystals are non-equilibrium many-body phases of matter characterized by spontaneously broken discrete time-translation symmetry under periodic driving. At sufficiently high driving frequencies, the system enters the Floquet prethermalization regime, in which the periodically driven many-body state has a lifetime vastly exceeding the intrinsic decay time of the system. Here, we report the observation of long-lived prethermal discrete time-crystalline order in a three-dimensional (3D) lattice of 13C nuclei in diamond at room temperature. We demonstrate a two-frequency driving protocol, involving an interleaved application of slow and fast drives that simultaneously prethermalize the spins with an emergent quasi-conserved magnetization along the x̂ axis. This enables continuous and highly resolved observation of their dynamic evolution. We obtain videos of the time-crystalline response with a clarity and throughput orders of magnitude greater than previous experiments. Parametric control over the drive frequencies allows us to reach time-crystal lifetimes of up to 396 Floquet cycles, which we measure in a single-shot experiment. Such rapid measurement enables detailed characterization of the entire phase diagram, highlighting the role of prethermalization in stabilizing the time-crystal response. The two-frequency drive approach expands the toolkit for investigating non-equilibrium phases of matter stabilized by emergent quasi-conservation laws.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature , 2023. Vol. 19, no 3, p. 407-413
National Category
Condensed Matter Physics Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-330079DOI: 10.1038/s41567-022-01891-7ISI: 000919544100001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85146156624OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-330079DiVA, id: diva2:1775210
Note
QC 20230626
2023-06-262023-06-262023-06-26Bibliographically approved