Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The floating phase, a critical incommensurate phase, has been theoretically predicted as a potential intermediate phase between crystalline ordered and disordered phases. In this study, we investigate the different quantum phases that arise in ladder arrays comprising up to 92 neutral-atom qubits and experimentally observe the emergence of the quantum floating phase. We analyze the site-resolved Rydberg state densities and the distribution of state occurrences. The site-resolved measurement reveals the formation of domain walls within the commensurate ordered phase, which subsequently proliferate and give rise to the floating phase with incommensurate quasi-long-range order. By analyzing the Fourier spectra of the Rydberg density-density correlations, we observe clear signatures of the incommensurate wave order of the floating phase. Furthermore, as the experimental system sizes increase, we show that the wave vectors approach a continuum of values incommensurate with the lattice. Our work motivates future studies to further explore the nature of commensurate-incommensurate phase transitions and their non-equilibrium physics. The critical floating phase can bridge crystalline orders and the disordered phase. Here, the authors experimentally observe the quantum floating phase in neutral atom qubit arrays, revealing domain walls and incommensurate quasi long-range order, and analyse its emergence via Fourier spectroscopy.
Source: Nature Communications
Authors: Jin Zhang, Sergio H. Cantú, Fangli Liu, Alexei Bylinskii, Boris Braverman, Florian Huber, Jesse Amato-Grill, Alexander Lukin, Nathan Gemelke, Alexander Keesling, Sheng-Tao Wang, Yannick Meurice, Shan-Wen Tsai
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,990
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing, Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment, National Institutes of Health, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
Awards: G1264789558, G1747867047, Acquisition of a Scalable Storage Cluster for Data Intensive NIH Research, G253595669, G2689092433, Research Infrastructure: MRI: Acquisition of a Big Data HPC Cluster for Interdisciplinary Research and Training, G3170350527, QUANTUM OPTIMIZATION WITH PROGRAMMABLE SIMULATORS BASED ON ATOM ARRAYS, FOUNDATIONS OF QUANTUM COMPUTING FOR GAUGE THEORIES AND QUANTUM GRAVITY, G3869117599, G4763861809, G4964002591, MRI: Acquisition of a Big Data Compute Cluster for Interdisciplinary Research, RAISE-TAQS: Nonlinear Optical Properties and Novel Quantum Phases of Polar Molecules in Optical Lattic, G8332663894
OpenAlex ID: W4406479567