Photonic metamaterial analogue of a continuous time crystal
Photonic metamaterial analogue of a continuous time crystal
Time crystals are an eagerly sought phase of matter with broken time-translation symmetry. Quantum time crystals with discretely broken time-translation symmetry have been demonstrated in trapped ions, atoms and spins while continuously broken time-translation symmetry has been observed in an atomic condensate inside an optical cavity. Here we report that a classical metamaterial nanostructure, a two-dimensional array of plasmonic metamolecules supported on flexible nanowires, can be driven to a state possessing all of the key features of a continuous time crystal: continuous coherent illumination by light resonant with the metamolecules' plasmonic mode triggers a spontaneous phase transition to a superradiant-like state of transmissivity oscillations, resulting from many-body interactions among the metamolecules, characterized by long-range order in space and time. The phenomenon is of interest to the study of dynamic classical many-body states in the strongly correlated regime and applications in all-optical modulation, frequency conversion and timing.
986–991
Liu, Tongjun
53eb4a71-ea7b-4aa7-b96d-b70c5df1dd63
Ou, Jun-Yu
3fb703e3-b222-46d2-b4ee-75f296d9d64d
MacDonald, Kevin F.
76c84116-aad1-4973-b917-7ca63935dba5
Zheludev, Nikolai
32fb6af7-97e4-4d11-bca6-805745e40cc6
20 April 2023
Liu, Tongjun
53eb4a71-ea7b-4aa7-b96d-b70c5df1dd63
Ou, Jun-Yu
3fb703e3-b222-46d2-b4ee-75f296d9d64d
MacDonald, Kevin F.
76c84116-aad1-4973-b917-7ca63935dba5
Zheludev, Nikolai
32fb6af7-97e4-4d11-bca6-805745e40cc6
Liu, Tongjun, Ou, Jun-Yu, MacDonald, Kevin F. and Zheludev, Nikolai
(2023)
Photonic metamaterial analogue of a continuous time crystal.
Nature Physics, 19, .
(doi:10.1038/s41567-023-02023-5).
Abstract
Time crystals are an eagerly sought phase of matter with broken time-translation symmetry. Quantum time crystals with discretely broken time-translation symmetry have been demonstrated in trapped ions, atoms and spins while continuously broken time-translation symmetry has been observed in an atomic condensate inside an optical cavity. Here we report that a classical metamaterial nanostructure, a two-dimensional array of plasmonic metamolecules supported on flexible nanowires, can be driven to a state possessing all of the key features of a continuous time crystal: continuous coherent illumination by light resonant with the metamolecules' plasmonic mode triggers a spontaneous phase transition to a superradiant-like state of transmissivity oscillations, resulting from many-body interactions among the metamolecules, characterized by long-range order in space and time. The phenomenon is of interest to the study of dynamic classical many-body states in the strongly correlated regime and applications in all-optical modulation, frequency conversion and timing.
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NPHYS-2022-10-02638A accepted manuscript
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liu photonic metamaterial continuous time crystal
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liu -photonic metamaterial continuous time crystal - online publication
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Accepted/In Press date: 15 March 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 20 April 2023
Published date: 20 April 2023
Additional Information:
Funding information: This work was supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (grant EP/M009122/1), the Singapore Ministry of Education (grant MOE2016-T3-1-006) and the China Scholarship Council (TL,
grant 201806160012).
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 475625
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/475625
ISSN: 1745-2473
PURE UUID: 29df8b24-3d18-4cfc-a469-e853f3c50784
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Date deposited: 22 Mar 2023 17:47
Last modified: 23 Jul 2024 01:45
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