Self-organized photonic time quasicrystal from a single imposed clock

Physics > Optics Title:Self-organized photonic time quasicrystal from a single imposed clock View PDF HTML (experimental)Abstract:A photonic time crystal usually writes a clock into a medium. Here one clock does more than program the medium: it seeds a quasiperiodic temporal order that the nonlinear medium selects for itself. In a guided-wave lattice of nonlinear dipoles, a single-tone pump modulates the polarization sector, while Maxwell--polarization back-action selects two response frequencies whose only resolved low-order relation is the pump-locked sum condition. Their sum phase locks to the pump and the complementary phase winds, producing a photonic discrete time quasicrystal with torus-like phase dynamics and a discrete combination spectrum. Site-resolved measurements show locked-phase coherence across the measured lattice sites over a finite control-parameter window. These results establish a route from externally programmed time-varying media to self-organized temporal order in nonlinear photonic systems. Current browse context: Bibliographic and Citation Tools Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article Demos Recommenders and Search Tools arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs.