Dissipative Nonlinear Phononics: Nonequilibrium Quasiperiodic Order in Light-Driven Spin-Phonon System

Abstract

Nonlinear phononics has emerged as a powerful paradigm for the nonthermal control of quantum materials by engineering a conservative potential energy landscape. Here, we show that dissipation can serve as an additional control knob for nonequilibrium states in nonlinear phononics. We reveal a nontrivial role of dissipation by investigating a spin-phonon coupled system driven by circularly polarized light. By tuning the spin relaxation time $\tau_s$, the steady state undergoes a transition from a trivial limit cycle to a temporally ordered state, which spontaneously breaks the discrete time-translation symmetry imposed by the drive. In this state, both the spin and phonon angular momentum exhibit persistent oscillations at an emergent frequency $\Omega_s$, which is generally incommensurate with the driving frequency. This state is stabilized by a dissipation-induced phase lag between spin and phonon angular momentum that generates a feedback loop sustaining the oscillation. The dissipation-controlled transition can be described within a Landau-type framework using a pseudo-potential, where the order parameter has a $U(1)$ phase symmetry, and its amplitude is proportional to the oscillation amplitude of the phonon angular momentum.