Abstract
Quantum phase transitions (QPTs) involve transformations between different states of matter that are driven by quantum fluctuations1. These fluctuations play a dominant part in the quantum critical region surrounding the transition point, where the dynamics is governed by the universal properties associated with the QPT. Although time-dependent phenomena associated with classical, thermally driven phase transitions have been extensively studied in systems ranging from the early Universe to Bose–Einstein condensates2,3,4,5, understanding critical real-time dynamics in isolated, non-equilibrium quantum systems remains a challenge6. Here we use a Rydberg atom quantum simulator with programmable interactions to study the quantum critical dynamics associated with several distinct QPTs. By studying the growth of spatial correlations when crossing the QPT, we experimentally verify the quantum Kibble–Zurek mechanism (QKZM)7,8,9 for an Ising-type QPT, explore scaling universality and observe corrections beyond QKZM predictions. This approach is subsequently used to measure the critical exponents associated with chiral clock models10,11, providing new insights into exotic systems that were not previously understood and opening the door to precision studies of critical phenomena, simulations of lattice gauge theories12,13 and applications to quantum optimization14,15.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank A. Chandran, E. Demler, A. Polkovnikov and A. Vishwanath for discussions. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), CUA, ARO, AFOSR MURI, DOE and a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship. A.O. acknowledges support from a research fellowship from the German Research Foundation (DFG). H.L. acknowledges support from a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) fellowship. S. Schwartz acknowledges funding from the European Union under the Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellowship Programme H2020-MSCA-IF-2014 (project number 658253). H.P. acknowledges support from the NSF through a grant at the Institute of Theoretical Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics (ITAMP) at Harvard University and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. M.E. acknowledges funding provided by the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, an NSF Physics Frontiers Center (NSF grant PHY-1733907). S. Sachdev acknowledges support from the US Department of Energy (grant number DE-SC0019030).
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The experimental measurements and data analysis were carried out by A.K., A.O., H.L. and H.B. Theoretical analysis was performed by H.P., S.C. and R.S. S. Schwartz, P.S., S. Sachdev, P.Z. and M.E. contributed to the development of measurement protocols and theoretical models and the interpretation of results. All work was supervised by M.G., V.V. and M.D.L. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the manuscript.
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Extended data figures and tables
Extended Data Fig. 1 Determination of initial detuning Δ0.
At fixed laser detuning, we linearly ramp Ω on and then off (1 μs each). We identify the negative detuning closest to resonance for which the system is fully adiabatic, such that the excitation probability at the end of the pulse returns to the minimum. From this typical measurement, taken at Rb/a = 1.59, we set Δ0 = −2.5 MHz. Error bars denote 68% confidence intervals.
Extended Data Fig. 2 Numerically extracted phase diagram with trajectories for QKZM measurements.
a, Green (purple) markers indicate the phase boundary points between disordered and \({{\mathbb{Z}}}_{2}\) (\({{\mathbb{Z}}}_{3}\))-ordered phases. Yellow diamonds indicate the boundaries of the disordered phase (as approached from increasing Δ with fixed Ω and Rb/a). We have not verified whether these transitions are directly from disordered to \({{\mathbb{Z}}}_{4}\)-ordered phases or involve incommensurate phases. Each grey dashed line corresponds to the trajectory across phase space used to probe for scaling behaviour of the correlation length growth. The horizontal section of each trace corresponds to the detuning sweep at a constant Rabi frequency, whereas the curved sections correspond to pulse turn-off at a fixed value of detuning. The total duration of the detuning sweep is varied to control the rate of transition across the phase boundaries, but the time to turn the field off is not. b, Numerically obtained energy densities \({\mathscr{E}}\) along the red solid line indicated in a. The second-order derivative of \({\mathscr{E}}\) shows clear cusps at two critical points.
Extended Data Fig. 3 Scaling window.
Determination of the window of rates for which scaling is valid for the transition into the \({{\mathbb{Z}}}_{3}\)-ordered phase. The grey solid lines represent the result of the fitted model, which grows as a power law until it saturates. The dashed horizontal line marks the size of the blockade radius. All of the rates used in the experiment are larger than the values at which the dashed and solid lines intersect and smaller than the point at which the model saturates. The error bars denote one standard deviation of the power-law fit.
Extended Data Fig. 4 Approximation of interaction potential.
Comparison between the exact power-law decay 1/r6 and its approximation using a linear combination of four exponentials. The two functions agree with each other until their relative strength decreases to 10−6.
Extended Data Fig. 5 Energy gap.
Calculated gap between ground and first excited state using DMRG calculations. Green (purple) circles indicate the extracted quantum critical points separating the disordered from the \({{\mathbb{Z}}}_{2}\) (\({{\mathbb{Z}}}_{3}\))-ordered phase.
Extended Data Fig. 6 Rydberg density–density correlations.
Full density–density correlation map for sites i and j after a slow sweep into the \({{\mathbb{Z}}}_{2}\)-ordered phase. The orange square marks the bulk region used for analysis.
Extended Data Fig. 7 Finite-size scaling across QPT into the \({{\mathbb{Z}}}_{2}\)-ordered phase.
a, Experimentally measured growth of the correlation length across the phase transition for different sweep speeds. The error bars denote one standard deviation of the power-law fit. b, Verification of critical exponents across the QPT into the \({{\mathbb{Z}}}_{2}\)-ordered phase by rescaling the control parameter and spatial correlations. Using the experimentally extracted value of the QKZM length-scaling exponent, μ = 0.52, and setting the dynamical critical exponent to the Ising prediction, z = 1, it is observed that the data in a fall along a smooth function.
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Keesling, A., Omran, A., Levine, H. et al. Quantum Kibble–Zurek mechanism and critical dynamics on a programmable Rydberg simulator. Nature 568, 207–211 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1070-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1070-1
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