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Emergent Quasicrystalline Symmetry in Light-Induced Quantum Phase Transitions
Farokh Mivehvar1, Helmut Ritsch1, Francesco Piazza2
1Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Innsbruck, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Physical Review Letters
|December 7, 2019
Summary
Researchers discovered how exotic quasicrystals dynamically emerge from Bose-Einstein condensates via light scattering. This emergent order, with eightfold symmetry, appears in quantum systems without it being in their fundamental laws.
Area of Science:
- Quantum physics
- Condensed matter physics
- Materials science
Background:
- Quasicrystals exhibit crystallographically forbidden symmetries, challenging traditional material order concepts.
- The dynamical emergence of exotic order in quasicrystals remains poorly understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To theoretically investigate the emergence of quasicrystalline order in a nonequilibrium system.
- To explore a quantum phase transition from a Bose-Einstein condensate to a quasicrystalline phase.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing a cavity-Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) setup.
- Simulating a zero-temperature quantum phase transition driven by collective superradiant light scattering.
- Analyzing the formation of a dynamical, emergent quasicrystalline optical potential.
Main Results:
- Collective light scattering induces a quasicrystalline optical potential across a superradiant phase transition.
- The emergent eightfold rotational symmetry is not present in the system's Hamiltonian but appears in low-energy states.
- Strong atomic interactions stabilize quasicrystalline order, while weak interactions lead to condensate localization.
Conclusions:
- Demonstrates a novel mechanism for the dynamical emergence of quasicrystalline order in quantum systems.
- Highlights the role of collective light scattering and interactions in forming exotic material phases.
- Provides a theoretical framework for studying emergent symmetries and order in driven quantum systems.
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