Quantum simulation of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism using a semiconductor electron charge qubit

Li Wang, Cheng Zhou, Tao Tu, Hong-Wen Jiang, Guo-Ping Guo, Guang-Can Guo
2014 Physical Review A. Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics  
The Kibble-Zurek mechanism provides a description of the topological structure occurring in the symmetry breaking phase transitions, which may manifest as the cosmological strings in the early universe or vortex lines in the superfulid. A particularly intriguing analogy between Kibble-Zurek mechanism and a text book quantum phenomenon, Landau-Zener transition has been discovered, but is difficult to observe up to now. In recent years, there has been broad interest in quantum simulations using
more » ... fferent well-controlled physical setups, in which full tunability allows access to unexplored parameter regimes. Here we demonstrate a proof-of-principle quantum simulation of Kibble-Zurek mechanism using a single electron charge qubit in double quantum dot, set to behave as Landau-Zener dynamics. We measure the qubit states as a function of driven pulse velocity and successfully reproduce Kibble-Zurek like dependence of topological defect density on the quench rate. The high-level controllability of semiconductor two-level system make it a platform to test the key elements of topological defect formation process and shed a new insight on the aspect of non-equilibrium phase transitions.
doi:10.1103/physreva.89.022337 fatcat:sk6jqbzkn5ecbpeb2lyu7kb3vm