No Arabic abstract
We introduce a new approach for the robust control of quantum dynamics of strongly interacting many-body systems. Our approach involves the design of periodic global control pulse sequences to engineer desired target Hamiltonians that are robust against disorder, unwanted interactions and pulse imperfections. It utilizes a matrix representation of the Hamiltonian engineering protocol based on time-domain transformations of the Pauli spin operator along the quantization axis. This representation allows us to derive a concise set of algebraic conditions on the sequence matrix to engineer robust target Hamiltonians, enabling the simple yet systematic design of pulse sequences. We show that this approach provides an efficient framework to (i) treat any secular many-body Hamiltonian and engineer it into a desired form, (ii) target dominant disorder and interaction characteristics of a given system, (iii) achieve robustness against imperfections, (iv) provide optimal sequence length within given constraints, and (v) substantially accelerate numerical searches of pulse sequences. Using this systematic approach, we develop novel sets of pulse sequences for the protection of quantum coherence, optimal quantum sensing and quantum simulation. Finally, we experimentally demonstrate the robust operation of these sequences in a system with the most general interaction form.
The discrete time crystal (DTC) is a recently discovered phase of matter that spontaneously breaks time-translation symmetry. Disorder-induced many-body-localization is required to stabilize a DTC to arbitrary times, yet an experimental investigation of this localized regime has proven elusive. Here, we observe the hallmark signatures of a many-body-localized DTC using a novel quantum simulation platform based on individually controllable $^{13}$C nuclear spins in diamond. We demonstrate the characteristic long-lived spatiotemporal order and confirm that it is robust for generic initial states. Our results are consistent with the realization of an out-of-equilibrium Floquet phase of matter and establish a programmable quantum simulator based on solid-state spins for exploring many-body physics.
Understanding quantum dynamics away from equilibrium is an outstanding challenge in the modern physical sciences. It is well known that out-of-equilibrium systems can display a rich array of phenomena, ranging from self-organized synchronization to dynamical phase transitions. More recently, advances in the controlled manipulation of isolated many-body systems have enabled detailed studies of non-equilibrium phases in strongly interacting quantum matter. As a particularly striking example, the interplay of periodic driving, disorder, and strong interactions has recently been predicted to result in exotic time-crystalline phases, which spontaneously break the discrete time-translation symmetry of the underlying drive. Here, we report the experimental observation of such discrete time-crystalline order in a driven, disordered ensemble of $sim 10^6$ dipolar spin impurities in diamond at room-temperature. We observe long-lived temporal correlations at integer multiples of the fundamental driving period, experimentally identify the phase boundary and find that the temporal order is protected by strong interactions; this order is remarkably stable against perturbations, even in the presence of slow thermalization. Our work opens the door to exploring dynamical phases of matter and controlling interacting, disordered many-body systems.
Quantum metrology makes use of coherent superpositions to detect weak signals. While in principle the sensitivity can be improved by increasing the density of sensing particles, in practice this improvement is severely hindered by interactions between them. Using a dense ensemble of interacting electronic spins in diamond, we demonstrate a novel approach to quantum metrology. It is based on a new method of robust quantum control, which allows us to simultaneously eliminate the undesired effects associated with spin-spin interactions, disorder and control imperfections, enabling a five-fold enhancement in coherence time compared to conventional control sequences. Combined with optimal initialization and readout protocols, this allows us to break the limit for AC magnetic field sensing imposed by interactions, opening a promising avenue for the development of solid-state ensemble magnetometers with unprecedented sensitivity.
A normal-diffusion theory for heat transfer in many-body systems via carriers of thermal photons is developed. The thermal conductivity tensor is rigorously derived from fluctuational electrodynamics as a coefficient of diffusion term for the first time. In addition, a convection-like heat transfer behavior is revealed in systems of asymmetric distribution of particles, indicating violation of Fouriers law for such system. Considering the central role of thermal conductivity in heat transfer, this work paves a way for understanding, analysis and manipulation of heat transfer in nanoparticle system via thermal photons with many-body interactions.
The resilience of quantum entanglement to a classicality-inducing environment is tied to fundamental aspects of quantum many-body systems. The dynamics of entanglement has recently been studied in the context of measurement-induced entanglement transitions, where the steady-state entanglement collapses from a volume-law to an area-law at a critical measurement probability $p_{c}$. Interestingly, there is a distinction in the value of $p_{c}$ depending on how well the underlying unitary dynamics scramble quantum information. For strongly chaotic systems, $p_{c} > 0$, whereas for weakly chaotic systems, such as integrable models, $p_{c} = 0$. In this work, we investigate these measurement-induced entanglement transitions in a system where the underlying unitary dynamics are many-body localized (MBL). We demonstrate that the emergent integrability in an MBL system implies a qualitative difference in the nature of the measurement-induced transition depending on the measurement basis, with $p_{c} > 0$ when the measurement basis is scrambled and $p_{c} = 0$ when it is not. This feature is not found in Haar-random circuit models, where all local operators are scrambled in time. When the transition occurs at $p_{c} > 0$, we use finite-size scaling to obtain the critical exponent $ u = 1.3(2)$, close to the value for 2+0D percolation. We also find a dynamical critical exponent of $z = 0.98(4)$ and logarithmic scaling of the R{e}nyi entropies at criticality, suggesting an underlying conformal symmetry at the critical point. This work further demonstrates how the nature of the measurement-induced entanglement transition depends on the scrambling nature of the underlying unitary dynamics. This leads to further questions on the control and simulation of entangled quantum states by measurements in open quantum systems.