Realization of discrete time crystals in a spin chain of trapped ions

Paul Hess, Patrick Becker, Antonios Kyprianidis +8 more

Norman Y. Yao, Andrew C. Potter, Ionut-Dragos Potirniche +1 more

Despite being forbidden in equilibrium, spontaneous breaking of time translation symmetry can occur in periodically driven, Floquet systems with discrete time-translation symmetry. The period of the resulting discrete time crystal is quantized to an integer multiple of the drive period, arising from a combination of collective synchronization and many body localization. Here, we consider a simple model for a one-dimensional discrete time crystal which explicitly reveals the rigidity of the emergent oscillations as the drive is varied. We numerically map out its phase diagram and compute the properties of the dynamical phase transition where the time crystal melts into a trivial Floquet insulator. Moreover, we demonstrate that the model can be realized with current experimental technologies and propose a blueprint based upon a one dimensional chain of trapped ions. Using experimental parameters (featuring long-range interactions), we identify the phase boundaries of the ion-time-crystal and propose a measurable signature of the symmetry breaking phase transition.

Sainath Motlakunta, Fereshteh Rajabi, Yi Hong Teoh +5 more

Luming Duan

Raditya Weda Bomantara

Discrete time crystals (DTCs) are nonequilibrium phases of matter with exotic observable dynamics. Among their remarkable features is their response to a periodic drive at a fraction of its frequency. Current successful experiments are, however, only limited to realizing DTCs with period-doubling and period-tripling observable dynamics, forming only a very small subset of DTC phases. Creating larger periodic DTCs in the laboratory remains a longstanding challenge, yet it is necessary for developing the technological applications of DTCs, e.g., as a quantum memory for highly entangled qubits, or exploring interesting features beyond subharmonic dynamics, e.g., condensed matter phenomena in the time domain. By highlighting the connection between DTCs and quantum error correction, we devise a general and realistic scheme for building DTCs exhibiting any large-period observable dynamics, which are observable even at sufficiently small system sizes. Our proposal uses an array of spin-1/2 chains to simulate a repetition code at the hardware level, which has essential properties to realize robust observable dynamics. It is readily implemented with existing superconducting or trapped-ion quantum processors, making new families of DTCs experimentally accessible in the immediate future.

S.K. Haendel, Danilo Dadic, Michael S. Ip +1 more