| Autor: |
Ulm, S., Roßnagel, J., Jacob, G., Degünther, C., Dawkins, S. T., Poschinger, U. G., Nigmatullin, R., Retzker, A., Plenio, M. B., Schmidt-Kaler, F., Singer, K. |
| Rok vydání: |
2013 |
| Předmět: |
|
| Zdroj: |
Nature Communications 4, 2290 (2013) |
| Druh dokumentu: |
Working Paper |
| DOI: |
10.1038/ncomms3290 |
| Popis: |
Traversal of a symmetry-breaking phase transition at a finite rate can lead to causallyseparated regions with incompatible symmetries and the formation of defects at their boundaries. The defect formation follows universal scaling laws prescribed by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) important to the study of phase transitions in fields as diverse as quantum and statistical mechanics, condensed matter physics and cosmology. Here, we observe the KZM in a crystal of cold trapped ions, which is conducive to the precise control of structural phases and the detection of defects. The experiment confirms a scaling law with an exponent of 2.68 +/- 0.06, as predicted from the KZM in the finite inhomogeneous case. Such precision makes it feasible to use ion crystals for quantitative tests of classical and quantum statistical mechanics. |
| Databáze: |
arXiv |
| Externí odkaz: |
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