Realization of a time-crystal in a dc-driven atom-cavity system
Final Report Abstract
The project started with a successful upgrade of the existing machine by a laser system, which provide pump blue detuned light for the cavity with respect to the atomic resonance. In this regime, we observe a limit cycle phase, which is characterised by emergent periodic oscillations of the intracavity photon number NP. We show that the time phase of the oscillations takes random values between 0 and 2π, as expected for a spontaneously broken continuous symmetry. Furthermore, we demonstrate the robustness of the dynamical phase by identifying its stability area in the relevant parameter space and by showing the persistence of the limit cycle oscillations in the presence of strong temporal perturbations. Thus, we demonstrate the first realisation of a continuous time crystal, which was the central goal of the proposal. Our results attract attention by several journalist and our manuscript was selected to be published as First Release in Science. In a collaboration together with Dr. R. Chitra from the ETH in Zurich we developed a beyond mean-field approach, which is computationally feasible and agrees well with the boundary between the superfluid to Mott insulating phase.
Publications
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Mott transition in a cavity-boson system: A quantitative comparison between theory and experiment. SciPost Physics, 11(2).
Lin, Rui; Georges, Christoph; Klinder, Jens; Molignini, Paolo; Büttner, Miriam; Lode, Axel U. J.; Chitra, Ramasubramanian; Hemmerich, Andreas & Keßler, Hans
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Observation of a continuous time crystal. Science, 377(6606), 670-673.
Kongkhambut, Phatthamon; Skulte, Jim; Mathey, Ludwig; Cosme, Jayson G.; Hemmerich, Andreas & Keßler, Hans
