Observing a $3T$ discrete time crystal on a trapped-ion qudit quantum processor

Abstract

Time crystals have been observed in various qubit-based quantum platforms. However, the realization of time-crystal behavior beyond period doubling has remained fairly unexplored, in part because established qubit architectures natively encode two-cycle dynamics. Qudits offer a natural route beyond this restriction. Here we propose a one-dimensional, disorder-free $S=1$ Floquet model with short-range interactions that realizes a discrete $3T$ time crystal and implement it on a trapped-ion qudit quantum processor. We observe period tripling dynamics in local observables and spin correlations, confirming the collective subharmonic response of the system in the experiment. The stabilization mechanism is analyzed by deriving the effective Floquet Hamiltonian and performing numerical simulations that demonstrate the existence of a prethermal phase over a wide range of parameters. We compute the phase diagram and verify the presence of multipartite entanglement through the Quantum Fisher Information, showing that this quantity gets enhanced at the crossover between ergodic and localized regimes in non-equilibrium.

35 pages, 13 figures