Jul 17 – 22, 2022
Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto
America/Toronto timezone

Observation of a continuous time crystal

Jul 21, 2022, 5:00 PM
1h 30m
Hart House (Hart House)

Hart House

Hart House

7 Hart House Cir, Toronto, ON M5S 3H3
Poster presentation Quantum optics and hybrid quantum systems Poster session

Description

Time crystals are classified as discrete or continuous depending on whether they spontaneously break discrete or continuous time translation symmetry. While discrete time crystals have been extensively studied in periodically driven systems since their recent discovery, the experimental realisation of a continuous time crystal [1,2] is still pending. We report the observation of a limit cycle phase in a continuously pumped dissipative atom-cavity system [3], which is characterized by emergent oscillations in the intracavity photon number. We observe that the phase of this oscillation is random for different realisations, and hence this dynamical manybody state breaks continuous time translation symmetry spontaneously. The observed robustness of the limit cycles against temporal perturbations confirms the realisation of a continuous time crystal.

References

[1] F. Piazza and H. Ritsch,
Self-Ordered Limit Cycles, Chaos, and Phase Slippage with a Superfluid
inside an Optical Resonator,
PRL, 115, 163601 (2015).
[2] H. Keßler, J. G. Cosme, M. Hemmerling, L. Mathey, and A. Hemmerich,
Emergent limit cycles and time crystal dynamics in an atom-cavity system,
PRA, 99(5), 053605 (2019).
[3] P. Kongkhambut, J. Skulte, L. Mathey, J. G. Cosme, A. Hemmerich, and H.
Keßler, Observation of a continuous time crystal,
arXiv:2202.06980 (2022).

Presenter name Hans Keßler

Primary authors

Hans Keßler (Institut für Laser-Physik, Universität Hamburg) Phatthamon Kongkhambut (Institut für Laser-Physik, Universität Hamburg) Jim Skulte (Institut für Laser-Physik, Universität Hamburg) Ludwig Mathey (Institut für Laser-Physik, Universität Hamburg) Jayson G. Cosme (National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines) Andreas Hemmerich (Institut für Laser-Physik, Universität Hamburg)

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