arXiv subjects

Michiel Wouters

Publications and source records attributed to Michiel Wouters.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Dynamical hysteresis properties of the driven-dissipative Bose-Hubbard model with a Gutzwiller Monte Carlo approach

We study the dynamical properties of a driven-dissipative Bose-Hubbard model in the strongly interacting regime through a quantum trajectory approach with a cluster-Gutzwiller Ansatz for the wave function. This allows us to take classical and quantum correlations into account. By studying the dynamical hysteresis surface that arises by sweeping through the coherent driving strength we show that the phase diagram for this system is in qualitative correspondence with the Gutzwiller mean-field result. However, quantitative differences are present and the inclusion of classical and quantum correlations causes a significant shift of the critical parameters. Additionally, we show that approximation techniques relying on a unimodal distribution such as the mean field and $1/z$ expansion drastically underestimate the particle number fluctuations. Finally, we show that a proposed mapping of the driven-dissipative many-body Bose-Hubbard model onto a single driven-dissipative Kerr model is not accurate for parameters in the hysteresis regime.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Gaussian trajectory approach to dissipative phase transitions: the case of quadratically driven photonic lattices

We apply the Gaussian trajectories approach to the study of the critical behavior of two-dimensional dissipative arrays of nonlinear photonic cavities, in presence of two-photon driving and in regimes of sizable loss rates. In spite of the highly mixed character of the density matrix of this system, the numerical approach is able to provide precise estimations of the steady-state expectation values, even for large lattices made of more than 100 sites. By performing a finite-size scaling of the relevant properties of the steady state, we extrapolate the behavior of the system in the thermodynamic limit and we show the emergence of a second-order dissipative phase transition, belonging to the universality class of thermal Ising model. This result indicates the occurrence of a crossover when the loss rate is increased from the weak-loss limit, in which the phase transition belongs to the universality class of the quantum Ising model

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Quantum trajectories for the variational description of closed systems: a case study with Gaussian states

It is proposed to improve the quality of a variational description of a closed quantum system by adding ficticious dissipation that reduces the entanglement. The proposal is implemented for a small Bose-Hubbard chain, which shows chaotic behavior and associated fast growth of quantum fluctuations. For appropriately chosen dissipation, good agreement with the truncated Wigner approximation (which is very accurate for the chosen system parameters) is found.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Classical critical dynamics in quadratically driven Kerr resonators

Driven-dissipative kerr lattices with two-photon driving are experimentally relevant systems known to exhibit a symmetry-breaking phase transition, which belongs to the universality class of the thermal Ising model for the parameter regime studied here. In this work, we perform finite-size scaling of this system as it is quenched to the transition and the dynamical critical exponent is found to be compatible with $z\approx2.18$ corresponding with metropolis dynamics in classical simulations. Furthermore, we show that the Liouvillian gap scales with the same exponent, similar to scaling of the Hamiltonian gap at quantum phase transitions in closed systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Spatiotemporal scaling of two-dimensional nonequilibrium exciton-polariton systems with weak interactions

We perform a numerical study on the two-dimensional nonequilibrium exciton-polariton systems driven by incoherent pumping based on the stochastic generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We calculate the density fluctuation, coherence function, and scaling function. It is found that the correlations at short range agree with the Bogoliubov linear theory. While at large distance, both static and dynamic correlations are characterized by the nonlinear scaling behaviors of Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class, especially when the interaction is weak. In this regime, scaling analyses are crucial to capture the universal KPZ scaling features. In addition, the interaction between vortices is modified in the strong KPZ regime and leads to complex nonequilibrium vortex patterns.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Classical field model for arrays of photon condensates

We introduce a classical phasor model for the description of multimode photon condensates that thermalize through repeated absorptions and reemissions by dye molecules. Thermal equilibrium is expressed through the fluctuation-dissipation relation that connects the energy damping to spontaneous emission fluctuations. We apply our model to a photonic Josephson junction (two coupled wells) and to one- and two-dimensional arrays of photon condensates. In the limit of zero pumping and cavity losses, we recover the thermal equilibrium result, but in the weakly driven-dissipative case in the canonical regime, we find suppressed density and phase fluctuations with respect to the ideal Bose gas.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2019

Mean-field validity in a dissipative critical system: Liouvillian gap, $\mathbb{PT}$-symmetric antigap, and permutational symmetry in the $XYZ$ model

We study the all-to-all connected $XYZ$ (anisotropic-Heisenberg) spin model with local and collective dissipations, comparing the results of mean field theory with the solution of the Lindblad quantum evolution. Leveraging the permutational symmetry of the model [N. Shammah et al., Phys Rev. A 98, 063815 (2018)], we find exactly (up to numerical precision) the steady state up to $N=95$ spins. We characterize criticality, studying, as a function of the number of spins $N$, the spin structure factor, the magnetization, the Liouvillian gap and the Von Neumann entropy of the steady state. Exploiting the weak $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetry of the model, we efficiently calculate the Liouvillian gap, introducing the idea of an antigap. For small anisotropy, we find a paramagnetic-to-ferromagnetic phase transition in agreement with the mean-field theory. For large anisotropy, instead, we find a significant discrepancy from the scaling of the low-anisotropy ferromagnetic phase. We also study other more experimentally-accessible witnesses of the transition, which can be used for finite-size studies, namely the bimodality coefficient and the angular averaged susceptibility. In contrast to the bimodality coefficient, the angular averaged susceptibility fails to capture the onset of the transition, in striking difference with respect to lower-dimensional studies. We also analyze the competition between local dissipative processes (which disentangle the spin system) and collective dissipative ones (generating entanglement). The nature of the phase transition is almost unaffected by the presence of these terms. Our results mark a stark difference with the common intuition that an all-to-all connected system should fall onto the mean-field solution also for intermediate number of spins.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Noise-induced transition from superfluid to vortex state in two-dimensional nonequilibrium polariton condensates

We study the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless mechanism for vortex-antivortex pair formation in two-dimensional superfluids for nonequilibrium condensates. Our numerical study is based on a classical field model for driven-dissipative quantum fluids that is applicable to polariton condensates. We investigate the critical noise needed to create vortex-antivortex pairs in the systems, starting from a state with uniform phase. The dependence of the critical noise on the nonequilibrium and energy relaxation parameters is analyzed in detail.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

The temporal coherence of a photon condensate: A quantum trajectory description

In order to study the temporal coherence of a single-mode dye-cavity photon condensate, a model is developed for the dynamics which treats the condensate mode on a quantum-mechanical level. The effects of driving-dissipation and Kerr interactions on the number fluctuations are studied analytically and numerically, including the finding of a long-$τ$ antibunching effect. Depending on the interaction strength, we quantitatively observe an exponential Schawlow-Townes-like decay or Gaussian Henry-like decay of phase correlations. The adequacy of a heuristic phasor model originating from laser physics in describing number and phase dynamics is validated within the experimentally relevant parameter regime. The ratio of the first and second order coherence times is shown to be inversely proportional to the number fluctuations, with a prefactor that varies smoothly throughout the crossover between canonical and grandcanonical statistics.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Critical dynamics and tree-like spatiotemporal patterns in exciton-polaritoncondensates

We study nonresonantly pumped exciton-polariton system in the vicinity of the dynamical instability threshold. We find that the system exhibits unique and rich dynamics, which leads to spatiotemporal pattern formation. The patterns have a tree-like structure and are reminiscent of structures that appear in a variety of soft matter systems. Within the approximation of slow and fast time scales, we show that the polariton model exhibits self-replication point in analogy to reaction-diffusion systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Automatic exploration techniques for the numerical bifurcation study of the Ginzburg-Landau equation

This paper considers the extreme type-II Ginzburg-Landau equations, a nonlinear PDE model that describes the states of a wide range of superconductors. For two-dimensional grids, a robust method is developed that performs a numerical continuation of the equations, automatically exploring the whole solution landscape. The strength of the applied magnetic field is used as the bifurcation parameter. Our branch switching algorithm is based on Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction, but we will show that for an important class of grids an alternative method based on the equivariant branching lemma can be applied as well. The complete algorithm has been implemented in Python and tested for multiple examples. For each example a complete solution landscape was constructed, showing the robustness of the algorithm.

math.DS↗

arXiv2019

Prethermalization to thermalization crossover in a dilute Bose gas following an interaction ramp

The dynamics of a weakly interacting Bose gas at low temperatures is close to integrable due to the approximate quadratic nature of the many-body Hamiltonian. While the short-time physics after an abrupt ramp of the interaction constant is dominated by the integrable dynamics, integrability is broken at longer times by higher-order interaction terms in the Bogoliubov Hamiltonian, in particular by Beliaev-Landau scatterings involving three quasiparticles. The two-stage relaxation process is highlighted in the evolution of local observables such as the density-density correlation function: a dephasing mechanism leads the system to a prethermal stage, followed by true thermalization conveyed by quasiparticle collisions. Our results bring the crossover from prethermalization to thermalization within reach of current experiments with ultracold atomic gases.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2018

Cluster Gutzwiller Monte Carlo approach for a critical dissipative spin model

We study the influence of short-range quantum correlations and classical spatial correlations on the phase diagram of the dissipative XYZ model by using a Gutzwiller Monte carlo method and a cluster Gutzwiller ansatz for the wave function. Considering lattices of finite size we show the emergence of a ferromagnetic phase, two paramagnetic phases and the possible existence of a phase transition which is entirely quantum in nature. The inclusion of short-range quantum correlations has a drastic effect on the phase diagram but our results show the inclusion of long-range quantum correlations or the use of more sophisticated methods are needed to quantitatively match the exact results. A study of the susceptibility tensor shows that reciprocity is broken, a feature not observed in closed quantum systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2018

Multivortex states and dynamics in nonequilibrium quantum fluids

In strongly nonequilibrium Bose-Einstein condensates described by the generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation, vortex motion becomes self-accelerated while the long-range vortex-antivortex interaction appears to be repulsive. We numerically study the impact of these rather unusual vortex properties on the dynamics of multivortex systems. We show that at strong nonequilibrium the repulsion between vortices and antivortices leads to a dramatic slowdown of their annihilation. Moreover, in finite-size samples, relaxation of multivortex systems can lead to the formation of metastable vortex-antivortex clusters, whose shape and size depend, in particular, on the sample geometry, boundary conditions and deviations from equilibrium. We further demonstrate that at strong nonequilibrium the interaction of self-accelerated vortices with inhomogeneous condensate flows can lead to generation of new vortex-antivortex pairs.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2018

Gaussian Quantum Trajectories for the Variational Simulation of Open Quantum-Optical Systems

We construct a class of variational methods for the study of open quantum systems based on Gaussian ansatzes for the quantum trajectory formalism. Gaussianity in the conjugate position and momentum quadratures is distinguished from Gaussianity in density and phase. We apply these methods to a driven-dissipative Kerr cavity where we study dephasing and the stationary states throughout the bistability regime. Computational cost proves to be similar to the truncated Wigner (TWA) method, with at most quadratic scaling in system size. Meanwhile, strong correspondence with the numerically exact trajectory description is maintained so that these methods contain more information on the ensemble constitution than TWA and can be more robust.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Engineering Gaussian states of light from a planar microcavity

Quantum fluids of light in a nonlinear planar microcavity can exhibit antibunched photon statistics at short distances due to repulsive polariton interactions. We show that, despite the weakness of the nonlinearity, the antibunching signal can be amplified orders of magnitude with an appropriate free-space optics scheme to select and interfere output modes. Our results are understood from the unconventional photon blockade perspective by analyzing the approximate Gaussian output state of the microcavity. In a second part, we illustrate how the temporal and spatial profile of the density-density correlation function of a fluid of light can be reconstructed with free-space optics. Also here the nontrivial (anti)bunching signal can be amplified significantly by shaping the light emitted by the microcavity.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Spontaneous Beliaev-Landau scattering out of equilibrium

We investigate Beliaev-Landau scattering in a gas of interacting photons in a coherently driven array of nonlinear dissipative resonators, as described by the 1D driven-dissipative Bose-Hubbard model. Due to the absence of detailed balance in such an out-of-equilibrium setup, steady-state properties can be much more sensitive to the underlying microscopic dynamics. As the popular truncated Wigner approximation dramatically fails in capturing this physics, we present an alternative approach, based on a systematic expansion beyond the Bogoliubov approximation, which includes the third-order correlation functions in the dynamics. As experimentally accessible signatures of Beliaev-Landau processes, we report a small but nonnegligible correction to the Bogoliubov prediction for the steady-state momentum distribution showing a characteristic series of peaks and dips, as well as non-Gaussian features in the statistics of the cavity output field.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Gutzwiller Monte Carlo approach for a critical dissipative spin model

We use the Gutzwiller Monte Carlo approach to simulate the dissipative XYZ-model in the vicinity of a dissipative phase transition. This approach captures classical spatial correlations together with the full on-site quantum behavior, while neglecting non-local quantum effects. By considering finite two-dimensional lattices of various sizes, we identify a ferromagnetic and two paramagnetic phases, in agreement with earlier studies. The greatly reduced numerical complexity the Gutzwiller Monte Carlo approach facilitates efficient simulation of relatively large lattice sizes. The inclusion of the spatial correlations allows to describe critical behavior which is completely missed by the widely applied Gutzwiller decoupling of the density matrix.

quant-ph↗