Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 190401 |
| Journal | Physical review letters |
| Volume | 110 |
| Issue number | 19 |
| Publication status | Published - 7 May 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Abstract
The understanding of how classical dynamics can emerge in closed quantum systems is a problem of fundamental importance. Remarkably, while classical behavior usually arises from coupling to thermal fluctuations or random spectral noise, it may also be an innate property of certain isolated, periodically driven quantum systems. Here, we experimentally realize the simplest such system, consisting of two coupled, kicked quantum rotors, by subjecting a coherent atomic matter wave to two periodically pulsed, incommensurate optical lattices. Momentum transport in this system is found to be radically different from that in a single kicked rotor, with a breakdown of dynamical localization and the emergence of classical diffusion. Our observation, which confirms a long-standing prediction for many-dimensional quantum-chaotic systems, sheds new light on the quantum-classical correspondence.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
- General Physics and Astronomy
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In: Physical review letters, Vol. 110, No. 19, 190401, 07.05.2013.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Evidence for a quantum-to-classical transition in a pair of coupled quantum rotors
AU - Gadway, Bryce
AU - Reeves, Jeremy
AU - Krinner, Ludwig
AU - Schneble, Dominik
PY - 2013/5/7
Y1 - 2013/5/7
N2 - The understanding of how classical dynamics can emerge in closed quantum systems is a problem of fundamental importance. Remarkably, while classical behavior usually arises from coupling to thermal fluctuations or random spectral noise, it may also be an innate property of certain isolated, periodically driven quantum systems. Here, we experimentally realize the simplest such system, consisting of two coupled, kicked quantum rotors, by subjecting a coherent atomic matter wave to two periodically pulsed, incommensurate optical lattices. Momentum transport in this system is found to be radically different from that in a single kicked rotor, with a breakdown of dynamical localization and the emergence of classical diffusion. Our observation, which confirms a long-standing prediction for many-dimensional quantum-chaotic systems, sheds new light on the quantum-classical correspondence.
AB - The understanding of how classical dynamics can emerge in closed quantum systems is a problem of fundamental importance. Remarkably, while classical behavior usually arises from coupling to thermal fluctuations or random spectral noise, it may also be an innate property of certain isolated, periodically driven quantum systems. Here, we experimentally realize the simplest such system, consisting of two coupled, kicked quantum rotors, by subjecting a coherent atomic matter wave to two periodically pulsed, incommensurate optical lattices. Momentum transport in this system is found to be radically different from that in a single kicked rotor, with a breakdown of dynamical localization and the emergence of classical diffusion. Our observation, which confirms a long-standing prediction for many-dimensional quantum-chaotic systems, sheds new light on the quantum-classical correspondence.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84877328024&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.190401
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.190401
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84877328024
VL - 110
JO - Physical review letters
JF - Physical review letters
SN - 0031-9007
IS - 19
M1 - 190401
ER -