• Wang, Sheng-Tao
• Meurice, Y.
• Tsai, S. -W.
• Zhang, Jin
• Cantú, Sergio H.
• Bylinskii, Alexei
• Liu, Fangli
• Braverman, Boris
• Lukin, Alexander
• Amato-Grill, Jesse
• Keesling, Alexander
• Gemelke, Nathan
• Huber, Florian

Abstract

The floating phase, a critical incommensurate phase, has been theoretically predicted as a potential intermediate phase between crystalline ordered and disordered phases. In this study, we investigate the different quantum phases that arise in ladder arrays comprising up to 92 neutral-atom qubits and experimentally observe the emergence of the quantum floating phase. We analyze the site-resolved Rydberg state densities and the distribution of state occurrences. The site-resolved measurement reveals the formation of domain walls within the commensurate ordered phase, which subsequently proliferate and give rise to the floating phase with incommensurate quasi-long-range order. By analyzing the Fourier spectra of the Rydberg density-density correlations, we observe clear signatures of the incommensurate wave order of the floating phase. Furthermore, as the experimental system sizes increase, we show that the wave vectors approach a continuum of values incommensurate with the lattice. Our work motivates future studies to further explore the nature of commensurate-incommensurate phase transitions and their non-equilibrium physics.

Topics

• density
• phase transition
• disordered phase
• ordered phase