AVS 66th International Symposium & Exhibition
    MEMS and NEMS Group Tuesday Sessions
       Session MN+QS-TuA

Invited Paper MN+QS-TuA3
Floquet Dynamics and Time Symmetry Breaking in Arrays of Driven Nanoresonators

Tuesday, October 22, 2019, 3:00 pm, Room A210

Session: Devices for Quantum Information and Quantum Nanomechanics
Presenter: Mark Dykman, Michigan State University
Correspondent: Click to Email

Periodically driven modes of nanomechnical resonators and electromagnetic cavities allow one to study peculiar features of quantum dynamics related to the discrete time translation symmetry imposed by the driving. For modes with high quality factors, which are typically studied in the experiment, these features become pronounced already for comparatively weak driving, provided it is resonant. Quantum dynamics of driven modes is described in terms of the Floquet states. Generally, if the system is in a Floquet state, its dynamical variables oscillate with the period of the driving. However, the discrete time-translation symmetry can be broken, leading to what is called the time crystal effect. For arrays of coupled vibrational modes, the symmetry breaking can occur both in the coherent and dissipative regimes. In the both regimes the transitions are induced by quantum fluctuations, making them nonequilibrium quantum phase transitions. However, the coherent and dissipative transitions are very different. The structure of the emerging states strongly depends on the disorder in the resonator arrays. We will discuss the transitions for the modes driven parametrically close to twice their eigenfrequency and also for the modes driven close to triple the eigenfrequency. Along with the theory we will discuss the ways of observing the vibrational time crystals in the experiment.