Solid-state continuous time crystal in a polariton condensate with a built-in mechanical clock

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Carraro-Haddad, I.; Chafatinos, D. L.; Kuznetsov, A. S.; Papuccio-Fernandez, I. A.; Reynoso, A. A.; Bruchhausen, A.; Biermann, K.; Santos, P. V.; Usaj, G.; Fainstein, A.
• 署名单位: Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica (CNEA); Centro Atomico Bariloche; Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica (CNEA); University Nacional Cuyo Mendoza; Instituto Balseiro; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET); Leibniz Association; Paul Drude Institute for Solid State Electronics; University of Antwerp; Universite Libre de Bruxelles
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-10991
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adn7087
• 发表日期: 2024-05-31
• 页码: 995-1000
• 关键词: dynamics

摘要

Time crystals (TCs) are many-body systems that display spontaneous breaking of time translation symmetry. We demonstrate a TC by using driven-dissipative condensates of microcavity exciton-polaritons, spontaneously formed from an incoherent particle bath. The TC phases are controlled by the power of a continuous-wave nonresonant optical drive exciting the condensate and the interaction with cavity phonons. Those phases are, for increasing power, Larmor-like precession of the condensate pseudo-spins-a signature of continuous TC; locking of the frequency of precession to self-sustained coherent phonons-stabilized TC; and doubling of TC's period by phonons-a discrete TC with continuous excitation. These results establish microcavity polaritons as a platform for the investigation of time-broken symmetry in nonhermitian systems.