Continuous symmetry breaking in a two-dimensional Rydberg array

Cheng Chen, Guillaume Bornet, Marcus Bintz, Gabriel Emperauger, Lucas Leclerc, Vincent S. Liu, Pascal Scholl, Daniel Barredo, Johannes Hauschild, Shubhayu Chatterjee, Michael Schuler, Andreas M. Läuchli, Michael P. Zaletel, Thierry Lahaye, Norman Y. Yao and Antoine Browaeys ()
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Cheng Chen: University of Paris-Saclay
Guillaume Bornet: University of Paris-Saclay
Marcus Bintz: University of California
Gabriel Emperauger: University of Paris-Saclay
Lucas Leclerc: University of Paris-Saclay
Vincent S. Liu: University of California
Pascal Scholl: University of Paris-Saclay
Daniel Barredo: University of Paris-Saclay
Johannes Hauschild: University of California
Shubhayu Chatterjee: University of California
Michael Schuler: University of Innsbruck
Andreas M. Läuchli: University of Innsbruck
Michael P. Zaletel: University of California
Thierry Lahaye: University of Paris-Saclay
Norman Y. Yao: University of California
Antoine Browaeys: University of Paris-Saclay

Nature, 2023, vol. 616, issue 7958, 691-695

Abstract: Abstract Spontaneous symmetry breaking underlies much of our classification of phases of matter and their associated transitions1–3. The nature of the underlying symmetry being broken determines many of the qualitative properties of the phase; this is illustrated by the case of discrete versus continuous symmetry breaking. Indeed, in contrast to the discrete case, the breaking of a continuous symmetry leads to the emergence of gapless Goldstone modes controlling, for instance, the thermodynamic stability of the ordered phase4,5. Here, we realize a two-dimensional dipolar XY model that shows a continuous spin-rotational symmetry using a programmable Rydberg quantum simulator. We demonstrate the adiabatic preparation of correlated low-temperature states of both the XY ferromagnet and the XY antiferromagnet. In the ferromagnetic case, we characterize the presence of a long-range XY order, a feature prohibited in the absence of long-range dipolar interaction. Our exploration of the many-body physics of XY interactions complements recent works using the Rydberg-blockade mechanism to realize Ising-type interactions showing discrete spin rotation symmetry6–9.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05859-2

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