Critical Thermalization of a Disordered Dipolar Spin System in Diamond
At a Glance
Section titled âAt a Glanceâ| Metadata | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2018-07-09 |
| Journal | Physical Review Letters |
| Authors | Georg Kucsko, Soonwon Choi, JeongâMo Choi, Peter C. Maurer, Hengyun Zhou |
| Institutions | Universität Ulm, University of California, Berkeley |
| Citations | 170 |
Abstract
Section titled âAbstractâStatistical mechanics underlies our understanding of macroscopic quantum systems. It is based on the assumption that out-of-equilibrium systems rapidly approach their equilibrium states, forgetting any information about their microscopic initial conditions. This fundamental paradigm is challenged by disordered systems, in which a slowdown or even absence of thermalization is expected. We report the observation of critical thermalization in a three dimensional ensemble of âź10^{6} electronic spins coupled via dipolar interactions. By controlling the spin states of nitrogen vacancy color centers in diamond, we observe slow, subexponential relaxation dynamics and identify a regime of power-law decay with disorder-dependent exponents; this behavior is modified at late times owing to many-body interactions. These observations are quantitatively explained by a resonance counting theory that incorporates the effects of both disorder and interactions.