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20 April 2024

» arxiv » 1302.5343

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Observation of the Kibble-Zurek scaling law for defect formation in ion crystals
S. Ulm ; J. Roßnagel ; G. Jacob ; C. Degünther ; S.T. Dawkins ; U.G. Poschinger ; R. Nigmatullin ; A. Retzker ; M.B. Plenio ; F. Schmidt-Kaler ; K. Singer ;
Date:	21 Feb 2013
Abstract:	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.
Source:	arXiv, 1302.5343
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