Kinetic phase transition with global coupling in the resonantly driven atomic trap

Abstract

We present an experimental observation and comprehensive theory that address the effect of interaction on the phase transition in a many-body system, which is far from equilibrium and does not have detailed balance. In the resonantly driven cold atomic trap, we observe kinetic phase transition (KPT) that is manifested by substantial enhancement of fluctuations, similar to the first-order phase transition in thermal equilibrium. Moreover, we can control the attractive interaction between atoms trapped in the coexisting states by adjusting the total number of atoms, which induces shift of the phase boundaries of KPT. The demonstrated effect is the many-body analogue of KPT that was previously predicted and observed in a single-driven oscillator. Our work provides a unique model platform for quantitative study of nonequilibrium nonlinear dynamics in many-body systems.