Spectra and spectral correlations of microwave graphs with symplectic symmetry

Following an idea by Joyner et al. [Europhys. Lett. 107, 50004 (2014)EULEEJ0295-507510.1209/0295-5075/107/50004], a microwave graph with antiunitary symmetry T obeying T^{2}=-1 has been realized, thus mimicking a spin-1/2 system. The Kramers doublets expected for such systems have been clearly identified and could be lifted by a perturbation which breaks the antiunitary symmetry. The observed spectral level-spacing distribution of the Kramers doublets agreed with the predictions from the Gaussian symplectic ensemble (GSE), expected for chaotic systems with such a symmetry. In addition, we studied the random matrix equivalents of the used graphs both analytically and numerically. Here small deviations from the GSE level-spacing distribution were found, too small to be seen in the experiment but clearly visible in the simulations. Furthermore, results on the two-point correlation function, the spectral form factor, the number variance, and the spectral rigidity are presented, as well as on the transition from Gaussian symplectic to Gaussian orthogonal statistics by continuously changing T from T^{2}=-1 to T^{2}=1.