Successful New Approach for Research of out-of-equilibrium matter

Exotic Phase of Matter realized on a Quantum Processor

Unlike conventional phases of matter, the so-called non-equilibrium quantum phases are defined by their dynamical and time-evolving properties — a behavior that cannot be captured by traditional equilibrium thermodynamics. One particularly rich class of non-equilibrium states arises in Floquet systems — quantum systems that are periodically driven in time. This rhythmic driving can give rise to entirely new forms of order that cannot exist under any equilibrium conditions, revealing phenomena that are fundamentally beyond the reach of conventional phases of matter.

Using a 58 superconducting qubit quantum processor, the team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Princeton University, and Google Quantum AI realized a Floquet topologically ordered state, a phase that had been theoretically proposed but never before observed. They directly imaged the characteristic directed motions at the edge and developed a novel interferometric algorithm to probe the system’s underlying topological properties. This allowed them to witness the dynamical “transmutation” of exotic particles – a hallmark that has been theoretically predicted for these exotic quantum states.