Breaking of Time Translation Symmetry and Ergodicity, and Entropy decrease in a Continuous Time Crystal Driven by Nonreciprocal Optical Forces

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Liu, Tongjun, Raskatla, Venugopal, Li, Jinxiang, MacDonald, Kevin F., Zheludev, Nikolay I.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Liu, Tongjun
Raskatla, Venugopal
Li, Jinxiang
MacDonald, Kevin F.
Zheludev, Nikolay I.
author_facet Liu, Tongjun
Raskatla, Venugopal
Li, Jinxiang
MacDonald, Kevin F.
Zheludev, Nikolay I.
contents Nonreciprocal nonequilibrium process are attracting growing interest in sociology, animal behaviour, chemistry, and nanotechnology, and may have played a role in the origin of life. It is less widely recognized, however, that in open systems light can induce nonreciprocal predator-prey like forces between nanoparticles. Such forces provide access to the continuous time crystal state of matter, which has been demonstrated in a plasmonic metamaterial array of nanowires wherein light triggers a spontaneous mobilization transition to the robust oscillatory state, breaking time translation symmetry. Here, we report on the first experimental study of the transient dynamics of light-induced mobilization and demobilization in a time crystal. By analysing time resolved phase trajectories of the system of nanowires, we show that the mobilization transition is accompanied by breaking of continuous time translation symmetry and ergodicity, and a decrease in the entropy of motion. This insight into the transient dynamics of a nonreciprocity-driven time crystal is relevant to optical timetronics, an information and communications technology paradigm relying on the unique functionalities of time crystals, and applications of the interacting nanowire oscillator platform to modelling a wide range of nonreciprocal processes from many-body dynamics to the early stages of matter-to-life transitions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2404_10525
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Breaking of Time Translation Symmetry and Ergodicity, and Entropy decrease in a Continuous Time Crystal Driven by Nonreciprocal Optical Forces
Liu, Tongjun
Raskatla, Venugopal
Li, Jinxiang
MacDonald, Kevin F.
Zheludev, Nikolay I.
Optics
Nonreciprocal nonequilibrium process are attracting growing interest in sociology, animal behaviour, chemistry, and nanotechnology, and may have played a role in the origin of life. It is less widely recognized, however, that in open systems light can induce nonreciprocal predator-prey like forces between nanoparticles. Such forces provide access to the continuous time crystal state of matter, which has been demonstrated in a plasmonic metamaterial array of nanowires wherein light triggers a spontaneous mobilization transition to the robust oscillatory state, breaking time translation symmetry. Here, we report on the first experimental study of the transient dynamics of light-induced mobilization and demobilization in a time crystal. By analysing time resolved phase trajectories of the system of nanowires, we show that the mobilization transition is accompanied by breaking of continuous time translation symmetry and ergodicity, and a decrease in the entropy of motion. This insight into the transient dynamics of a nonreciprocity-driven time crystal is relevant to optical timetronics, an information and communications technology paradigm relying on the unique functionalities of time crystals, and applications of the interacting nanowire oscillator platform to modelling a wide range of nonreciprocal processes from many-body dynamics to the early stages of matter-to-life transitions.
title Breaking of Time Translation Symmetry and Ergodicity, and Entropy decrease in a Continuous Time Crystal Driven by Nonreciprocal Optical Forces
topic Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.10525