Weak dynamical localization in periodically kicked cold atomic gases

Experimental Observation of a Time-Driven Phase Transition in Quantum Chaos

We report the first experimental observation of the time-driven phase transition in a canonical quantum chaotic system, the quantum kicked rotor. The transition bears a firm analogy to a thermodynamic phase transition, with the time mimicking the temperature and the quantum expectation of the rotor's kinetic energy mimicking the free energy. The transition signals a sudden change in the system's memory behavior: before the critical time, the system undergoes chaotic motion in phase space and its memory of initial states is erased in the course of time; after the critical time, quantum interference enhances the probability for a chaotic trajectory to return to the initial state, and thus the system's memory is recovered.

Lyapunov Exponent and Out-of-Time-Ordered Correlator's Growth Rate in a Chaotic System

It was proposed recently that the out-of-time-ordered four-point correlator (OTOC) may serve as a useful characteristic of quantum-chaotic behavior, because, in the semiclassical limit ℏ→0, its rate of exponential growth resembles the classical Lyapunov exponent. Here, we calculate the four-point correlator C(t) for the classical and quantum kicked rotor-a textbook driven chaotic system-and compare its growth rate at initial times with the standard definition of the classical Lyapunov exponent. Using both quantum and classical arguments, we show that the OTOC's growth rate and the Lyapunov exponent are, in general, distinct quantities, corresponding to the logarithm of the phase-space averaged divergence rate of classical trajectories and to the phase-space average of the logarithm, respectively. The difference appears to be more pronounced in the regime of low kicking strength K, where no classical chaos exists globally. In this case, the Lyapunov exponent quickly decreases as K→0, while the OTOC's growth rate may decrease much slower, showing a higher sensitivity to small chaotic islands in the phase space. We also show that the quantum correlator as a function of time exhibits a clear singularity at the Ehrenfest time t_{E}: transitioning from a time-independent value of t^{-1}lnC(t) at t<t_{E} to its monotonic decrease with time at t>t_{E}. We note that the underlying physics here is the same as in the theory of weak (dynamical) localization [Aleiner and Larkin, Phys. Rev. B 54, 14423 (1996)PRBMDO0163-182910.1103/PhysRevB.54.14423; Tian, Kamenev, and Larkin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 124101 (2004)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.93.124101] and is due to a delay in the onset of quantum interference effects, which occur sharply at a time of the order of the Ehrenfest time.

Planck's quantum-driven integer quantum Hall effect in chaos

We find in a canonical chaotic system, the kicked spin-1/2 rotor, a Planck's quantum(he)-driven phenomenon bearing a close analogy to the integer quantum Hall effect but of chaos origin. Specifically, the rotor's energy growth is unbounded ("metallic" phase) for a discrete set of critical values of he, but otherwise bounded ("insulating" phase). The latter phase is topological and characterized by a quantum number ("quantized Hall conductance"). The number jumps by unity whenever he passes through each critical value as it decreases. Our findings indicate that rich topological quantum phenomena can emerge from chaos.

Theory of the Anderson transition in the quasiperiodic kicked rotor

We present the first microscopic theory of transport in quasiperiodically driven environments ("kicked rotors"), as realized in recent atom optic experiments. We find that the behavior of these systems depends sensitively on the value of a dimensionless Planck constant h: for irrational values of h/(4π) they fall into the universality class of disordered electronic systems and we describe the corresponding localization phenomena. In contrast, for rational values the rotor-Anderson insulator acquires an infinite (static) conductivity and turns into a "supermetal." We discuss the ensuing possibility of a metal-supermetal quantum phase transition.

Competition between weak localization and ballistic transport

High-frequency transport in perfect periodic dielectric cylinder arrays is studied. We analytically calculate the diffusive-ballistic transport crossover, which displays the competition between weak localization and ballistic transport.

Interplay of Ehrenfest and dephasing times in ballistic conductors

Quantum interference corrections in ballistic conductors require a minimal time: the Ehrenfest time. In this Letter, we investigate the fate of the interference corrections to quantum transport in bulk ballistic conductors if the Ehrenfest time and the dephasing time are comparable.

Deterministic weak localization in periodic structures

In some perfect periodic structures classical motion exhibits deterministic diffusion. For such systems we present the weak localization theory. As a manifestation for the velocity autocorrelation function a universal power law decay is predicted to appear at four Ehrenfest times. This deterministic weak localization is robust against weak quenched disorders, which may be confirmed by coherent backscattering measurements of periodic photonic crystals.

Deviations from early-time quasilinear behavior for the atom-optics kicked rotor near the classical limit

We present experimental measurements of the mean energy for the atom-optics kicked rotor after just two kicks. The energy is found to deviate from the quasilinear value for small kicking periods. The observed deviation is explained by recent theoretical results which include the effect of a nonuniform initial momentum distribution, previously applied only to systems using much colder atoms than ours.

Exponential sensitivity to dephasing of electrical conduction through a quantum dot

According to random-matrix theory, interference effects in the conductance of a ballistic chaotic quantum dot should vanish proportional to (tau(phi)/tau(D))(p) when the dephasing time tau(phi) becomes small compared to the mean dwell time tau(D). Aleiner and Larkin have predicted that the power law crosses over to an exponential suppression proportional to exp((-tau(E)/tau(phi)) when tau(phi) drops below the Ehrenfest time tau(E). We report the first observation of this crossover in a computer simulation of universal conductance fluctuations. Their theory also predicts an exponential suppression proportional to exp((-tau(E)/tau(D)) in the absence of dephasing--which is not observed. We show that the effective random-matrix theory proposed previously for quantum dots without dephasing explains both observations.