Observation of Stark many-body localization without disorder

ORAL

Abstract

Thermalization is a ubiquitous process of statistical physics, in which details of few-body observables are washed out in favor of a featureless steady state. Even in isolated quantum many-body systems, limited to reversible dynamics, thermalization typically prevails. However, in these systems, there is another possibility: many-body localization (MBL) can result in preservation of a non-thermal state. While disorder has long been considered an essential ingredient for this phenomenon, recent theoretical work has suggested that a quantum many-body system with a uniformly increasing field -- but no disorder -- can also exhibit MBL, resulting in `Stark MBL.' Here we realize Stark MBL in a trapped-ion quantum simulator and demonstrate its key properties: halting of thermalization and slow propagation of correlations. Tailoring the interactions between ionic spins in an effective field gradient, we directly observe their microscopic equilibration for a variety of initial states, and we apply single-site control to measure correlations between separate regions of the spin chain. Further, by engineering a varying gradient, we create a disorder-free system with coexisting long-lived thermalized and nonthermal regions. The results demonstrate the unexpected generality of MBL, with implications about the fundamental requirements for thermalization and with potential uses in engineering long-lived non-equilibrium quantum matter.

*This work is supported by the DARPA Driven and Non-equilibrium Quantum Systems (DRINQS) Program (D18AC00033), NSF Practical Fully-Connected Quantum Computer Program (PHY-1818914), the DOE Basic Energy Sciences: Materials and Chemical Sciences for Quantum Information Science program (DE-SC0019449), the DOE High Energy Physics: Quantum Information Science Enabled Discovery Program (DE-0001893), the DoE Quantum System Accelerator, the DOE ASCR Quantum Testbed Pathfinder program (DE-SC0019040), DOE Award DE-SC0019449, the DoE ASCR Accelerated Research in Quantum Computing program (DE-SC0020312), and the AFOSR MURI on Dissipation Engineering in Open Quantum Systems (FA9550-19-1-0399).

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Publication: arXiv:2102.07250

Presenters

  • William N Morong

    • University of Maryland, College Park
    • Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, University of Maryland and NIST, College Park, MD 20742 USA
    • Joint Quantum Institute, Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, and Physics Department, University of Maryland, College Park and National Institute of Sta

Authors

  • William N Morong

    • University of Maryland, College Park
    • Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, University of Maryland and NIST, College Park, MD 20742 USA
    • Joint Quantum Institute, Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, and Physics Department, University of Maryland, College Park and National Institute of Sta

  • Fangli Liu

    • Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, University of Maryland and NIST, College Park, MD 20742 USA

  • Patrick M Becker

    • University of Maryland, College Park
    • Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, University of Maryland and NIST, College Park, MD 20742 USA
    • Joint Quantum Institute, Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, and Physics Department, University of Maryland, College Park and National Institute of Sta

  • Kate S Collins

    • University of Maryland, College Park
    • Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, University of Maryland and NIST, College Park, MD 20742 USA
    • Joint Quantum Institute, Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, and Physics Department, University of Maryland, College Park and National Institute of Sta

  • Lei Feng

    • University of Maryland, College Park
    • Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, University of Maryland and NIST, College Park, MD 20742 USA
    • Joint Quantum Institute, Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, and Physics Department, University of Maryland, College Park and National Institute of Sta
    • JQI and QuICS and Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

  • Antonis Kyprianidis

    • University of Maryland, College Park
    • Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, University of Maryland and NIST, College Park, MD 20742 USA
    • Joint Quantum Institute, Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, and Physics Department, University of Maryland, College Park and National Institute of Sta

  • Guido Pagano

    • Rice
    • Rice Univ
    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005 USA
    • Rice University

  • Tianyu You

    • Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, University of Maryland and NIST, College Park, MD 20742 USA
    • Joint Quantum Institute, Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, and Physics Department, University of Maryland, College Park and National Institute of Sta

  • Alexey V Gorshkov

    • JQI
    • National Institute of Standards and Technology
    • Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, University of Maryland and NIST, College Park, MD 20742 USA
    • JQI, NIST, QuICS and Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742;
    • Joint Quantum Institute, NIST/University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742 USA

  • Christopher R Monroe

    • JQI and QuiCS and Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742; Duke Quantum Center and Department of Physics (and ECE), Duke University, Durham, NC
    • JQI and QuICS and Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742; Duke Quantum Center and Department of Physics (and ECE), Duke University, Durham NC 2
    • University of Maryland, College Park
    • Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland, College Park
    • Joint Quantum Institute and Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, University of Maryland and NIST, College Park, MD 20742 USA
    • JQI, University of Maryland, College Park
    • JQI and QuICS and Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742; Duke Quantum Center and Department of Physics (and ECE), Duke University, Durham NC 27
    • Joint Quantum Institute, Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, and Physics Department, University of Maryland, College Park and National Institute of Sta