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arXiv:2001.10210 · Science Advances

Observation of generalized Kibble-Zurek mechanism across a first-order quantum phase transition in a spinor condensate

L.-Y. Qiu, Hongyu Liang, Yan-Bin Yang, H.-X. Yang, Tonghua Tian, Yong Xu, Luming Duan

Published May 22, 2020• 41 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The Kibble-Zurek mechanism provides a unified theory to describe the universal scaling laws in the dynamics when a system is driven through a second-order quantum phase transition. However, for first-order quantum phase transitions, the Kibble-Zurek mechanism is usually not applicable. Here, we experimentally demonstrate and theoretically analyze a power-law scaling in the dynamics of a spin-1 condensate across a first-order quantum phase transition when a system is slowly driven from a polar phase to an antiferromagnetic phase. We show that this power-law scaling can be described by a generalized Kibble-Zurek mechanism. Furthermore, by experimentally measuring the spin population, we show the power-law scaling of the temporal onset of spin excitations with respect to the quench rate, which agrees well with our numerical simulation results. Our results open the door for further exploring the generalized Kibble-Zurek mechanism to understand the dynamics across first-order quantum phase transitions.

DOI
10.1126/sciadv.aba7292

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The Kibble-Zurek mechanism provides a unified theory to describe the universal scaling laws in the dynamics when a system is driven through a second-order quantum phase transition. However, for first-order quantum phase transitions, the Kibble-Zurek mechanism is usually not applicable. Here, we experimentally demonstrate and theoretically analyze a power-law scaling in the dynamics of a spin-1 condensate across a first-order quantum phase transition when a system is slowly driven from a polar phase to an antiferromagnetic phase. We show that this power-law scaling can be described by a generalized Kibble-Zurek mechanism. Furthermore, by experimentally measuring the spin population, we show the power-law scaling of the temporal onset of spin excitations with respect to the quench rate, which agrees well with our numerical simulation results. Our results open the door for further exploring the generalized Kibble-Zurek mechanism to understand the dynamics across first-order quantum phase transitions.
The dynamics of a quantum phase transition are explored using slow quenches from the polar to the broken-axisymmetry phases in a small spin-1 ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensate. Measurements of the evolution of the spin populations reveal a power-law scaling of the temporal onset of excitations versus quench speed as predicted from quantum extensions of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. The satisfactory agreement of the measured scaling exponent with the analytical theory and numerical simulations provides experimental confirmation of the quantum Kibble-Zurek model.
Abstract Symmetry-breaking quantum phase transitions lead to the production of topological defects or domain walls in a wide range of physical systems. In second-order transitions, these exhibit universal scaling laws described by the Kibble–Zurek mechanism, but for first-order transitions a similarly universal approach is still lacking. Here, we propose a spinor Bose–Einstein condensate as a testbed system where critical scaling behaviour in a first-order quantum phase transition can be understood from generic properties. We demonstrate the applicability of the Kibble–Zurek mechanism for this transition to determine the critical exponents for: (1) the onset of the decay of the metastable state on short times scales, and (2) the number of resulting phase-separated ferromagnetic domains at longer times, as a one-dimensional spin-1 condensate is ramped across a first-order quantum phase transition. The predictions are in excellent agreement with mean-field numerical simulations and provide a paradigm for studying the decay of metastable states in experimentally accessible systems.
Abstract Heat generated as a result of the breakdown of an adiabatic process is one of the central concepts of thermodynamics. In isolated systems, the heat can be defined as an energy increase due to transitions between distinct energy levels. Across a second-order quantum phase transition (QPT), the heat is predicted theoretically to exhibit a power-law scaling, but it is a significant challenge for an experimental observation. In addition, it remains elusive whether a power-law scaling of heat can exist for a first-order QPT. Here we experimentally observe a power-law scaling of heat in a spinor condensate when a system is linearly driven from a polar phase to an antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase across a first-order QPT. We experimentally evaluate the heat generated during two non-equilibrium processes by probing the atom number on a hyperfine energy level. The experimentally measured scaling exponents agree well with our numerical simulation results. Our work therefore opens a new avenue to experimentally and theoretically exploring the properties of heat in non-equilibrium dynamics.
The Kibble-Zurek (KZ) hypothesis identifies the relevant time scales in out-of-equilibrium dynamics of critical systems employing concepts valid at equilibrium: It predicts the scaling of the defect formation immediately after quenches across classical and quantum phase transitions as a function of the quench speed. Here we study the crossover between the scaling dictated by a slow quench, which is ruled by the critical properties of the quantum phase transition, and the excitations due to a faster quench, where the dynamics is often well described by the classical model. We estimate the value of the quench rate that separates the two regimes and support our argument using numerical simulations of the out-of-equilibrium many-body dynamics. For the specific case of a ϕ4\phi^4ϕ4 model we demonstrate that the two regimes exhibit two different power-law scalings, which are in agreement with the KZ theory when applied to the quantum and to the classical case. This result contributes to extending the prediction power of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism and to provide insight into recent experimental observations in systems of cold atoms and ions.
Quench dynamics of first-order phase transitions in a homogeneous Bose-Einstein condensate with Raman-type spin-orbit coupling is investigated. By adjusting the coupling strength, the system can be driven across the critical point between the plane-wave phase and stripe phase in two opposite directions, and we find the scaling-law behaviors for both processes of phase transitions. This is different from previous studies, which only focus on the quench dynamics in the unidirectional transitions from a higher symmetric phase to a lower symmetric phase. Subsequently, we obtain the power law of the domain numbers (correlation length) and formation time (correlation time) of these phase transitions and extract the critical exponents. The results reveal the effect of the directionality of the phase transition on the dynamic scaling law.
The Kibble-Zurek (KZ) hypothesis identifies the relevant time scales in out-of-equilibrium dynamics of critical systems employing concepts valid at equilibrium: It predicts the scaling of the defect formation immediately after quenches across classical and quantum phase transitions as a function of the quench speed. Here, we study the crossover between the scaling dictated by a slow quench, which is ruled by the critical properties of the quantum phase transition, and the excitations due to a faster quench, where the dynamics is often well described by the classical model. We estimate the value of the quench rate that separates the two regimes and support our argument using numerical simulations of the out-of-equilibrium many-body dynamics. For the specific case of a ϕ^{4} model we demonstrate that the two regimes exhibit two different power-law scalings, which are in agreement with the KZ theory when applied to the quantum and classical cases. This result contributes to extending the prediction power of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism and to providing insight into recent experimental observations in systems of cold atoms and ions.