Experimental Observation of Dynamical Phase Transitions in a Dephased Photonic Quantum Walk

Dynamical phase transitions in open quantum systems govern how nonequilibrium states relax toward a stationary state. We study these transitions experimentally using a discrete-time photonic quantum walk on a three-node graph. A tunable synthetic gauge flux and calibrated dephasing allow us to control time-reversal symmetry and the detailed balance properties of the effective Markovian dynamics. With detailed balance, we observe a first-order dynamical phase transition marked by a crossing of real Liouvillian eigenvalues. When detailed balance is broken, we observe a second-order dynamical phase transition at an exceptional point where eigenvalues and eigenvectors coalesce. By progressively reducing the dephasing strength, we track the crossover toward the quantum-coherent regime and determine that the transitions persist down to a finite threshold. Our results establish a controllable platform for the experimental investigation of a class of relaxation dynamical phase transitions governed by detailed balance and exceptional points, linking Liouvillian spectral topology to relaxation criticality.