Nonreciprocal Control of Spatiotemporal Floquet Dynamics in Levitated Optomechanical Arrays

Abstract: Periodically driven photonic and optomechanical systems provide a versatile setting for realizing collective Floquet dynamics, yet the relation between temporal locking and continuous rotation of the finite-$q$ pattern remains poorly understood. We show that a nonreciprocal ring of parametrically driven optically levitated particles allows the spatial phase to be controlled while collective temporal locking is preserved. Nonreciprocity polarizes the counterpropagating finite-wave-vector modes and drives a transition from the pinned state to persistent directional spatial-phase drift. The normalized spatial-phase drift velocity is independently encoded in the splitting of the two dominant spectral branches, and its direction reverses with the coupling asymmetry. The pinned regime exhibits a laboratory frame period-two time-crystalline response, whereas the rotating regime forms a distinct temporally locked spatiotemporally ordered state. The same correspondence between spatial-phase drift and spectral splitting persists down to few-particle rings, indicating that the effect does not require a large array. These results establish nonreciprocity as a route to independently control spatial-phase drift and temporal synchronization in driven levitated optomechanical systems.