Abstract
Spontaneous symmetry breaking(SSB)plays a central role in understanding a large variety of phenomena associated with phase transitions,such as superfluid and superconductivity.So far,the transition from a symmetric vacuum to a macroscopically ordered phase has been substantially explored.The process bridging these two distinct phases is critical to understanding how a classical world emerges from a quantum phase transition,but so far remains unexplored in experiment.We here report an experimental demonstration of such a process with a quantum Rabi model engineered with a superconducting circuit.We move the system from the normal phase to the superradiant phase featuring two symmetry-breaking field components,one of which is observed to emerge as the classical reality.The results demonstrate that the environment-induced decoherence plays a critical role in the SSB.
基金项目
National Natural Science Foundation of China(11874114)
National Natural Science Foundation of China(12274080)
National Natural Science Foundation of China(11875108)
Innovation Program for Quantum Science and Technology(2021ZD0300200)