Optical nonreciprocal forces, ergodicity, and entropy of space-time crystals

Nikolay I. Zheludev; Tongjun Liu; Venugopal Raskatla; Jinxiang Li; Kevin F. MacDonald

doi:10.1117/12.3023372

11 June 2024 Optical nonreciprocal forces, ergodicity, and entropy of space-time crystals

Nikolay I. Zheludev, Tongjun Liu, Venugopal Raskatla, Jinxiang Li, Kevin F. MacDonald

Proceedings Volume PC12990, Metamaterials XIV; PC129900E (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3023372
Event: SPIE Photonics Europe, 2024, Strasbourg, France

Abstract

The time crystal is an eagerly sought phase of matter, a many-body strongly correlated system with broken time-translation symmetry and ergodicity. We demonstrate that a classical metamaterial nanostructure - a two-dimensional array of plasmonic metamolecules supported on nanowires - exhibit complex picometer scale dynamics in presence of light. It can be driven to a state possessing all the key features of a continuous space-time crystal: continuous coherent illumination by light resonant with the metamolecules’ plasmonic mode triggers a spontaneous first order phase transition to a superradiant-like state of transmissivity oscillations, resulting from many-body interactions among the metamolecules. The space-time crystal is characterized by long-range order in space and time, broken ergodicity and reduced spectral entropy that are driven by non-reciprocal non-Hamiltonian forces of light pressure.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Nikolay I. Zheludev, Tongjun Liu, Venugopal Raskatla, Jinxiang Li, and Kevin F. MacDonald "Optical nonreciprocal forces, ergodicity, and entropy of space-time crystals", Proc. SPIE PC12990, Metamaterials XIV, PC129900E (11 June 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3023372

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