Quantum Zeno effects across a parity-time symmetry breaking transition in atomic momentum space

TL;DR

This study experimentally explores quantum Zeno effects in a PT-symmetric cold atom system, revealing how dissipation suppression or enhancement occurs across PT symmetry breaking transitions, with potential for broader quantum control applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates the existence of quantum Zeno effects within PT symmetry broken phases and links these effects to PT-symmetry-breaking transitions using cold atom momentum lattices.

Findings

Quantum Zeno effects are observed in PT-symmetric cold atom systems.

Dissipation suppression and enhancement depend on coupling strength.

Zeno regimes are bounded by exceptional points and critical frequencies.

Abstract

We experimentally study quantum Zeno effects in a parity-time (PT) symmetric cold atom gas periodically coupled to a reservoir. Based on the state-of-the-art control of inter-site couplings of atoms in a momentum lattice, we implement a synthetic two-level system with passive PT symmetry over two lattice sites, where an effective dissipation is introduced through repeated couplings to the rest of the lattice. Quantum Zeno (anti-Zeno) effects manifest in our experiment as the overall dissipation of the two-level system becoming suppressed (enhanced) with increasing coupling intensity or frequency. We demonstrate that quantum Zeno regimes exist in the broken PT symmetry phase, and are bounded by exceptional points separating the PT symmetric and PT broken phases, as well as by a discrete set of critical coupling frequencies. Our experiment establishes the connection between PT-symmetry-breaking transitions and quantum Zeno effects, and is extendable to higher dimensions or to interacting regimes, thanks to the flexible control with atoms in a momentum lattice.