Time-resolved observation of thermalization in an isolated quantum system

Understand

We use trapped atomic ions forming a hybrid Coulomb crystal, and exploit its phonons to study an isolated quantum system composed of a single spin coupled to an engineered bosonic environment.

• We increase the complexity of the system by adding ions and controlling coherent couplings and, thereby, we observe the emergence of thermalization: Time averages of spin observables approach microcanonical averages while related fluctuations decay.
• Our platform features precise control of system size, coupling strength, and isolation from the external world to explore the dynamics of equilibration and thermalization.