Exploring quantum chaos with a single nuclear spin

Abstract

Most classical dynamical systems are chaotic. The trajectories of two identical systems prepared in infinitesimally different initial conditions diverge exponentially with time. Quantum systems, instead, exhibit quasiperiodicity due to their discrete spectrum. Nonetheless, the dynamics of quantum systems whose classical counterparts are chaotic are expected to show some features that resemble chaotic motion. Among the many controversial aspects of the quantum-classical boundary, the emergence of chaos remains among the least experimentally verified. Time-resolved observations of quantum chaotic dynamics are particularly rare, and as yet unachieved in a single particle, where the subtle inter..