Key Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of China, CAS, Hefei, 230026, People's Republic of China and Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China.
Phys Rev Lett. 2014 Jan 24;112(3):035701. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.035701. Epub 2014 Jan 23.
The Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) captures the key physics of nonequilibrium dynamics in second order phase transitions, and accurately predicts the density of topological defects formed in such processes. However, the central prediction of KZM--i.e., the scaling of the density of defects with the quench rate--still needs further experimental confirmation, particularly for quantum transitions. Here, we perform a quantum simulation of the nonequilibrium dynamics of the Landau-Zener model based on a nine-stage optical interferometer with an overall visibility of 0.975±0.008. The results support the adiabatic-impulse approximation, which is the core of Kibble-Zurek theory. Moreover, the developed high-fidelity multistage optical interferometer can support more complex linear optical quantum simulations.
Kibble-Zurek 机制（KZM）捕获了二级相变中非平衡动力学的关键物理学，并准确预测了此类过程中形成的拓扑缺陷的密度。然而，KZM 的中心预测——即缺陷密度与淬火速率的标度关系——仍然需要进一步的实验验证，特别是对于量子跃迁。在这里，我们基于整体可见度为 0.975±0.008 的九阶段光学干涉仪对 Landau-Zener 模型的非平衡动力学进行了量子模拟。结果支持绝热脉冲近似，这是 Kibble-Zurek 理论的核心。此外，开发的高保真度多阶段光学干涉仪可以支持更复杂的线性光学量子模拟。
