Dissipation stabilizes Dicke Time Quasicrystals

Abstract

Quasi-periodic driving protocols provide a powerful route to realize novel non-equilibrium phases of matter beyond the Floquet paradigm. However, these protocols inevitably lead to infinite-temperature heat death in isolated systems, which poses a major challenge to their experimental realization. We demonstrate that dissipation can be harnessed to stabilize quasi-periodically driven systems, enabling the realization of robust non-equilibrium phases. Using the paradigmatic open Dicke model, we provide a blueprint for realizing a stable time quasicrystal (TQC) by Fibonacci driving. This TQC is characterized by a robust sub-harmonic quasi-periodic response that is dictated by, but qualitatively distinct from the external Fibonacci drive. By directly analyzing the time evolution in the thermodynamic limit, we establish the existence of TQC order in this system for a wide parameter regime. We trace the origin of the stability of the TQC to the attractor structure induced by dissipation. Strikingly, the TQC order persists in the deep quantum regime with as few as two qubits. We systematically study the dependence of the TQC lifetime, ${\tau }^{\ast }$, on the number of qubits and demonstrate that ${\tau }^{\ast }$ increases monotonically with the system size. Crucially, the TQC is not observed in the absence of dissipation. Our work establishes dissipation as a mechanism for stabilizing non-equilibrium phases of matter under quasi-periodic drive.

7+2 pages, 4 figures