Photonic metamaterial analogue of a continuous time crystal

Abstract Time crystals are an eagerly sought phase of matter with broken time-translation symmetry. Quantum time crystals with discretely broken time-translation symmetry have been demonstrated in trapped ions, atoms and spins whereas continuously broken time-translation symmetry has been observed i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNature physics Vol. 19; no. 7; pp. 986 - 991
Main Authors Liu, Tongjun, Ou, Jun-Yu, MacDonald, Kevin F., Zheludev, Nikolay I.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group 01.07.2023
Subjects
Crystals
Light modulation
Long range order
Many body problem
Metamaterials
Nanowires
Phase transitions
Photonic crystals
Plasmonics
Quantum theory
Symmetry
Transmissivity
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Summary:Abstract Time crystals are an eagerly sought phase of matter with broken time-translation symmetry. Quantum time crystals with discretely broken time-translation symmetry have been demonstrated in trapped ions, atoms and spins whereas continuously broken time-translation symmetry has been observed in an atomic condensate inside an optical cavity. Here we report that a classical metamaterial nanostructure, a two-dimensional array of plasmonic metamolecules supported on flexible nanowires, can be driven to a state possessing all of the key features of a continuous time crystal: continuous coherent illumination by light resonant with the metamolecules’ plasmonic mode triggers a spontaneous phase transition to a superradiant-like state of transmissivity oscillations, resulting from many-body interactions among the metamolecules, characterized by long-range order in space and time. The phenomenon is of interest to the study of dynamic classical many-body states in the strongly correlated regime and applications in all-optical modulation, frequency conversion and timing.
ISSN:1745-2473
1745-2481
DOI:10.1038/s41567-023-02023-5