Many-body-localized discrete time crystal with a programmable spin-based quantum simulator
Abstract
The discrete time crystal (DTC) is a nonequilibrium phase of matter that spontaneously breaks time-translation symmetry. Disorder-induced many-body localization can stabilize the DTC phase by breaking ergodicity and preventing thermalization. Here, we observe the hallmark signatures of the many-body-localized DTC using a quantum simulation platform based on individually controllable carbon-13 nuclear spins in diamond. We demonstrate long-lived period-doubled oscillations and confirm that they are robust for generic initial states, thus showing the characteristic time-crystalline order across the many-body spectrum. Our results are consistent with the realization of an out-of-equilibrium Floquet phase of matter and introduce a programmable quantum simulator based on solid-state spins for exploring many-body physics.
- Publication:
-
Science
- Pub Date:
- December 2021
- DOI:
- 10.1126/science.abk0603
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2107.00736
- Bibcode:
- 2021Sci...374.1474R
- Keywords:
-
- PHYSICS;
- Quantum Physics;
- Condensed Matter - Disordered Systems and Neural Networks;
- Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
- E-Print:
- doi:10.1126/science.abk0603