Long-lived topological time-crystalline order on a quantum processor

Bibliographic Details
Title: Long-lived topological time-crystalline order on a quantum processor
Authors: Liang Xiang, Wenjie Jiang, Zehang Bao, Zixuan Song, Shibo Xu, Ke Wang, Jiachen Chen, Feitong Jin, Xuhao Zhu, Zitian Zhu, Fanhao Shen, Ning Wang, Chuanyu Zhang, Yaozu Wu, Yiren Zou, Jiarun Zhong, Zhengyi Cui, Aosai Zhang, Ziqi Tan, Tingting Li, Yu Gao, Jinfeng Deng, Xu Zhang, Hang Dong, Pengfei Zhang, Si Jiang, Weikang Li, Zhide Lu, Zheng-Zhi Sun, Hekang Li, Zhen Wang, Chao Song, Qiujiang Guo, Fangli Liu, Zhe-Xuan Gong, Alexey V. Gorshkov, Norman Y. Yao, Thomas Iadecola, Francisco Machado, H. Wang, Dong-Ling Deng
Source: Nature Communications, Vol 15, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2024)
Publisher Information: Nature Portfolio, 2024.
Publication Year: 2024
Collection: LCC:Science
Subject Terms: Science
More Details: Abstract Topologically ordered phases of matter elude Landau’s symmetry-breaking theory, featuring a variety of intriguing properties such as long-range entanglement and intrinsic robustness against local perturbations. Their extension to periodically driven systems gives rise to exotic new phenomena that are forbidden in thermal equilibrium. Here, we report the observation of signatures of such a phenomenon—a prethermal topologically ordered time crystal—with programmable superconducting qubits arranged on a square lattice. By periodically driving the superconducting qubits with a surface code Hamiltonian, we observe discrete time-translation symmetry breaking dynamics that is only manifested in the subharmonic temporal response of nonlocal logical operators. We further connect the observed dynamics to the underlying topological order by measuring a nonzero topological entanglement entropy and studying its subsequent dynamics. Our results demonstrate the potential to explore exotic topologically ordered nonequilibrium phases of matter with noisy intermediate-scale quantum processors.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2041-1723
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/2041-1723
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-53077-9
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/14f2fd3dd5c34d0aa9e0fe0b3f5f84af
Accession Number: edsdoj.14f2fd3dd5c34d0aa9e0fe0b3f5f84af
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:20411723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-53077-9
Published in:Nature Communications
Language:English