德国马克斯·普朗克物理研究所Egor I. Kiselev团队近日研究了光子时间晶体中的对称破缺与时空模式形成。相关论文于2025年5月6日发表在《物理评论A》杂志上。

在这项工作中，研究组探索了具有光学克尔非线性和相关相变的时变光子介质的动力学。周期性调制的介电常数和非线性之间的相互作用导致电磁波连续过渡到具有破坏的空间和时间平移对称性的状态。这种转变产生了格子状的波浪图案，在许多方面类似于固体中的空间结晶。

对称性破缺引发了软的、类似戈德斯通的模式的出现，这些模式随着晶格结构的变形而传播，以及大规模的类似希格斯的模式——场振幅的空间均匀振荡。研究组将非平衡对称破缺的分析扩展到2+1维时变介质，并讨论了模式形成以及与离散耗散时间晶体的联系。

附：英文原文

Title: Symmetry breaking and spatiotemporal pattern formation in photonic time crystals

Author: Egor I. Kiselev, Yiming Pan

Issue&Volume: 2025/05/06

Abstract: In this work, we explore the dynamics of time-varying photonic media with an optical Kerr nonlinearity and an associated phase transition. The interplay between a periodically modulated permittivity and the nonlinearity induces a continuous transition of electromagnetic waves to a state with broken spatial and time translation symmetries. This transition gives rise to a lattice-like wave pattern, in many ways similar to a spatial crystallization in solids. Symmetry breaking triggers the emergence of soft, Goldstone-like modes, which propagate as deformations of the lattice structure, as well as massive Higgs-like modes—spatially uniform oscillations of the field amplitude. We extend the analysis of the nonequilibrium symmetry breaking to 2 +1-dimensional time-varying media and discuss pattern formation as well as the connection to discrete dissipative time crystals.

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.111.053509

Source: https://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.111.053509