Keesling, Alexander and Omran, Ahmed and Levine, Harry and Bernien, Hannes and Pichler, Hannes and Choi, Soonwon and Samajdar, Rhine and Schwartz, Sylvain and Silvi, Pietro and Sachdev, Subir and Zoller, Peter and Endres, Manuel and Greiner, Markus and Vuletić, Vladan and Lukin, Mikhail D. (2019) Quantum Kibble–Zurek mechanism and critical dynamics on a programmable Rydberg simulator. Nature, 568 (7751). pp. 207-211. ISSN 0028-0836. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1070-1. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20190123-110710682
Use this Persistent URL to link to this item: https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20190123-110710682
Abstract
Quantum phase transitions (QPTs) involve transformations between different states of matter that are driven by quantum fluctuations1. These fluctuations play a dominant part in the quantum critical region surrounding the transition point, where the dynamics is governed by the universal properties associated with the QPT. Although time-dependent phenomena associated with classical, thermally driven phase transitions have been extensively studied in systems ranging from the early Universe to Bose–Einstein condensates, understanding critical real-time dynamics in isolated, non-equilibrium quantum systems remains a challenge. Here we use a Rydberg atom quantum simulator with programmable interactions to study the quantum critical dynamics associated with several distinct QPTs. By studying the growth of spatial correlations when crossing the QPT, we experimentally verify the quantum Kibble–Zurek mechanism (QKZM) for an Ising-type QPT, explore scaling universality and observe corrections beyond QKZM predictions. This approach is subsequently used to measure the critical exponents associated with chiral clock models, providing new insights into exotic systems that were not previously understood and opening the door to precision studies of critical phenomena, simulations of lattice gauge theories and applications to quantum optimization.
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Alternate Title: | Probing quantum critical dynamics on a programmable Rydberg simulator | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Additional Information: | © 2019 Springer Nature Publishing AG. Received 31 August 2018; Accepted 22 January 2019; Published 01 April 2019. We thank A. Chandran, E. Demler, A. Polkovnikov and A. Vishwanath for discussions. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), CUA, ARO, AFOSR MURI, DOE and a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship. A.O. acknowledges support from a research fellowship from the German Research Foundation (DFG). H.L. acknowledges support from a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) fellowship. S. Schwartz acknowledges funding from the European Union under the Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellowship Programme H2020-MSCA-IF-2014 (project number 658253). H.P. acknowledges support from the NSF through a grant at the Institute of Theoretical Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics (ITAMP) at Harvard University and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. M.E. acknowledges funding provided by the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, an NSF Physics Frontiers Center (NSF grant PHY-1733907). S. Sachdev acknowledges support from the US Department of Energy (grant number DE-SC0019030). Author Contributions: The experimental measurements and data analysis were carried out by A.K., A.O., H.L. and H.B. Theoretical analysis was performed by H.P., S.C. and R.S. S. Schwartz, P.S., S. Sachdev, P.Z. and M.E. contributed to the development of measurement protocols and theoretical models and the interpretation of results. All work was supervised by M.G., V.V. and M.D.L. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the manuscript. Data availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. The authors declare no competing interests. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Group: | Institute for Quantum Information and Matter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Issue or Number: | 7751 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DOI: | 10.1038/s41586-019-1070-1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Record Number: | CaltechAUTHORS:20190123-110710682 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Persistent URL: | https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20190123-110710682 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Usage Policy: | No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ID Code: | 92399 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Collection: | CaltechAUTHORS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deposited By: | George Porter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deposited On: | 02 Apr 2019 22:27 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Modified: | 16 Nov 2021 03:50 |
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