arXiv · quant-ph/0609095
Optical signatures of quantum phase transitions in a light-matter system
Abstract
Information about quantum phase transitions in conventional condensed matter systems, must be sought by probing the matter system itself. By contrast, we show that mixed matter-light systems offer a distinct advantage in that the photon field carries clear signatures of the associated quantum critical phenomena. Having derived an accurate, size-consistent Hamiltonian for the photonic field in the well-known Dicke model, we predict striking behavior of the optical squeezing and photon statistics near the phase transition. The corresponding dynamics resemble those of a degenerate parametric amplifier. Our findings boost the motivation for exploring exotic quantum phase transition phenomena in atom-cavity, nanostructure-cavity, and nanostructure-photonic-band-gap systems.
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Timothy C. Jarrett, Alexandra Olaya-Castro, Neil F. Johnson. 2006-09-12. Optical signatures of quantum phase transitions in a light-matter system. https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/77/34001
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