Search arXivSearch

arXiv · 1705.06714

Exploring quantum signatures of chaos on a Floquet synthetic lattice

Abstract

Ergodicity and chaos play an integral role in the dynamical behavior of many-particle systems and are crucial to the formulation of statistical mechanics. Still, a general understanding of how randomness and chaos emerge in the dynamical evolution of closed quantum systems remains elusive. Here, we develop an experimental platform for the realization of canonical quantum chaotic Hamiltonians based on quantum simulation with synthetic lattices. We map the angular momentum projection states of an effective quantum spin onto the linear momentum states of a $^{87}$Rb Bose-Einstein condensate, which can alternatively be viewed as lattice sites in a synthetic dimension. This synthetic lattice, with local and dynamical control of tight-binding lattice parameters, enables new capabilities related to the experimental study of quantum chaos. In particular, the capabilities of our system let us tune the effective size of our spin, allowing us to illustrate how classical chaos can emerge from a discrete quantum system. Moreover, spectroscopic control over our synthetic lattice allows us to explore unique aspects of our spin's dynamics by measuring the out-of-time-ordered correlation function, and enables future investigations into entirely new classes of chaotic systems.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Eric J. Meier, Jackson Ang'ong'a, Fangzhao Alex An, Bryce Gadway. 2017-05-18. Exploring quantum signatures of chaos on a Floquet synthetic lattice. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.100.013623

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Exact quantum geometry from sublattice symmetry: Closed-form solution of the quarter-flux Harper-Hofstadter model

Quantum geometry has emerged as a guiding principle across atomic and condensed-matter physics, shaping the topological responses of Bloch bands and the stability of the correlated phases they host. Sublattice symmetry, though common among bipartite lattice models, has not yet been exploited to obtain closed-form quantum geometry in multiband systems. For this purpose, we derive a general expression for the QGT of sublattice-symmetric systems in terms of contributions from the individual sublattice sectors, and show that this symmetry renders the Bloch Hamiltonian of a paradigmatic four-band model, the quarter-flux Harper-Hofstadter model, anti-block-diagonal, analytically yielding the spectrum, eigenstates, and full quantum geometric tensor (QGT), including the Berry curvature and quantum metric, for all four bands. The model, describing charged particles on a two-dimensional square lattice subjected to a uniform magnetic field, has recently been realized experimentally with ultracold atoms, photons, and superconducting circuits. Finally, we evaluate fractional-Chern-insulator stability criteria analytically and quantify the lowest band of the quarter-flux Harper-Hofstadter model to be a nearly ideal Chern band. Our approach opens a route for studying also the quantum geometry of other sublattice-symmetric multiband systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Limit of Spin Squeezing in Finite Temperature Bose-Einstein Condensates

We show that, at finite temperature, the maximum spin squeezing achievable using interactions in Bose-Einstein condensates has a finite limit when the atom number $N\to \infty$ at fixed density and interaction strength. We calculate the limit of the squeezing parameter for a spatially homogeneous system and show that it is bounded from above by the initial non-condensed fraction.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Quantum fields in a cold atomic simulator: relaxation and phase locking in tunnel-coupled 1D bosonic quasi-condensates

We consider a prime example of simulating interacting relativistic QFT with cold atoms: the realisation of the sine-Gordon model by tunnel-coupled quasi-1D Bose gases. While experiments have shown that it can realise the sine-Gordon model in equilibrium, studies of non-equilibrium dynamics have revealed phase-locking behaviour that contrasts with predictions from sine-Gordon field theory. Here, we examine a one-dimensional field-theoretic model of the system and find that the phase-locking behaviour can be understood in terms of the longitudinal harmonic trap, and that the additional degrees of freedom observed in the experiment do not appear to play a significant role. Therefore, the experimental setup provides a good simulator of the sine-Gordon quantum field theory, even out of equilibrium, if the inhomogeneous background induced by the trap is taken into account. Furthermore, our results support the idea that modifying the longitudinal trap to a box shape should result in agreement with standard sine-Gordon dynamics. The main remaining open issues are accounting for 3D corrections and modelling the effect of the boundaries.

cond-mat.quant-gas