Observation of a Space-Time Crystal in a Superfluid Quantum Gas.

@article{Smits2018ObservationOA,
  title={Observation of a Space-Time Crystal in a Superfluid Quantum Gas.},
  author={J. Smits and Lei Liao and Henk T. C. Stoof and P. van der Straten},
  journal={Physical review letters},
  year={2018},
  volume={121 18},
  pages={
          185301
        }
}
Time crystals are a phase of matter, for which the discrete time symmetry of the driving Hamiltonian is spontaneously broken. The breaking of discrete time symmetry has been observed in several experiments in driven spin systems. Here, we show the observation of a space-time crystal using ultracold atoms, where the periodic structure in both space and time is directly visible in the experimental images. The underlying physics in our superfluid can be described ab initio and allows for a clear… 
View on PubMed
dspace.library.uu.nl
64 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
1
Background Citations
12
Methods Citations
1

Figures from this paper

64 Citations

Dynamics of a space-time crystal in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate

A space-time crystal has recently been observed in a superfluid Bose gas. Here we construct a variational model that allows us to describe from first principles the coupling between the radial…

Time crystals in a shaken atom-cavity system

We demonstrate the emergence of a time crystal of atoms in a high-finesse optical cavity driven by a phase-modulated transverse pump field, resulting in a shaken lattice. This shaken system exhibits…

Emergent limit cycles and time crystal dynamics in an atom-cavity system

We propose an experimental realization of a time crystal using an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in a high finesse optical cavity pumped with laser light detuned to the blue side of the relevant…

On the long-term stability of space-time crystals

We investigate a space-time crystal in a superfluid Bose gas. Using a well-controlled periodic drive we excite only one crystalline mode in the system, which can be accurately modeled in the rotating…

Fractional time crystals

Time crystals are quantum systems that are able to reveal condensed matter behavior in the time domain. It is known that crystallization in time can be observed in a periodically driven many-body…

Classical and quantum time crystals in a levitated nanoparticle without drive

Time crystal is defined as a phase of matter spontaneously exhibiting a periodicity in time. Previous studies focused on discrete quantum time crystals under periodic drive. Here, we propose a time…

The role of fluctuations in quantum and classical time crystals

Discrete time crystals (DTCs) are a many-body state of matter whose dynamics are slower than the forces acting on it. The same is true for classical systems with period-doubling bifurcations. Hence,…

Ancilla assisted Discrete Time Crystals in Non-interacting Spin Systems

We show here through experiments and exact analytical models the emergence of discrete time translation symmetry breaking in non-interacting systems. These time-periodic structures become stable…

Photonic Analogue of a Continuous Time Crystal

Time crystals are an eagerly sought phase of matter in which time-translation symmetry is broken. Quantum time crystals with discretely broken time-translation symmetry have been demonstrated in…

Emergence and Dynamical Stability of a Charge Time-Crystal in a Current-Carrying Quantum Dot Simulator.

Periodically driven open quantum systems that never thermalize exhibit a discrete time-crystal behavior, a nonequilibrium quantum phenomenon that has shown promise in quantum information processing…
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 65 REFERENCES

Observation of a discrete time crystal

The experimental observation of a discrete time crystal, in an interacting spin chain of trapped atomic ions, is presented, which opens the door to the study of systems with long-range spatio-temporal correlations and novel phases of matter that emerge under intrinsically non-equilibrium conditions.

Clean Floquet Time Crystals: Models and Realizations in Cold Atoms.

It is pointed out that time crystals can generally exist in systems without disorder, and a series of clean quasi-one-dimensional models under Floquet driving are proposed to demonstrate this unexpected result in principle.

Absence of Quantum Time Crystals.

A no-go theorem is proved that rules out the possibility of time crystals defined as such, in the ground state or in the canonical ensemble of a general Hamiltonian, which consists of not-too-long-range interactions.

Supersolid formation in a quantum gas breaking a continuous translational symmetry

The realization of a supersolid with continuous translational symmetry breaking along one direction in a quantum gas is reported, providing a route to creating and studying glassy many-body systems with controllably lifted ground-state degeneracies, such as supersolids in the presence of disorder.

Discrete Time Crystals: Rigidity, Criticality, and Realizations.

A simple model for a one-dimensional discrete time crystal which explicitly reveals the rigidity of the emergent oscillations as the drive is varied is considered and a blueprint based upon a one dimensional chain of trapped ions is proposed.

Phase space crystals: a new way to create a quasienergy band structure.

An explicit model to realize a phase space crystal and analyze its band structure in the frame of a tight-binding approximation is proposed, which opens new ways to engineer energy band structures, with the added advantage that its properties can be changed in situ by tuning the driving field's parameters.

Observation of discrete time-crystalline order in a disordered dipolar many-body system

This work observes long-lived temporal correlations, experimentally identifies the phase boundary and finds that the temporal order is protected by strong interactions, which opens the door to exploring dynamical phases of matter and controlling interacting, disordered many-body systems.

Spatial-Translation-Induced Discrete Time Crystals.

It is demonstrated that the local transport of charges or spins shows a nontrivial oscillation, enabling detection and applications of time crystal orders, and also provide promising platforms including quantum circuits.

Observation of Discrete-Time-Crystal Signatures in an Ordered Dipolar Many-Body System.

Nuclear magnetic resonance observations of DTC signatures in a third, strikingly different system: an ordered spatial crystal are shown and it is shown that interactions during the pulse of the DTC sequence contribute to the decay of the signal, complicating attempts to measure the intrinsic lifetime ofThe DTC.

Time crystals: a review

The struggle to observe discrete time crystals is reviewed here together with propositions that generalize this concept introducing condensed matter like physics in the time domain.
...