Dissipation-induced symmetry breaking in a driven optical lattice

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that dissipation in a symmetric driven optical lattice causes symmetry breaking, leading to directed atomic motion, which is experimentally observed and analyzed.

Contribution

It reveals how dissipation induces symmetry breaking in a symmetric optical lattice, resulting in directed atomic transport, a novel insight into driven dissipative quantum systems.

Findings

Dissipation breaks symmetry in a driven optical lattice.

Directed atomic current is experimentally observed due to dissipation.

Symmetry breaking is linked to atomic transport in the system.

Abstract

We analyze the atomic dynamics in an ac driven periodic optical potential which is symmetric in both time and space. We experimentally demonstrate that in the presence of dissipation the symmetry is broken, and a current of atoms through the optical lattice is generated as a result.