Phase transition of light on complex quantum networks

Abstract

Recent advances in quantum optics and atomic physics allow for an unprecedented level of control over light-matter interactions, which can be exploited to investigate new physical phenomena. In this work we are interested in the role played by the topology of quantum networks describing coupled optical cavities and local atomic degrees of freedom. In particular, using a mean-field approximation, we study the phase diagram of the Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard model on complex networks topologies, and we characterize the transition between a Mott-like phase of localized polaritons and a superfluid phase. We found that, for complex topologies, the phase diagram is nontrivial and well defined in the thermodynamic limit only if the hopping coefficient scales like the inverse of the maximal eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix of the network. Furthermore we provide numerical evidences that, for some complex network topologies, this scaling implies an asymptotically vanishing hopping coefficient in the limit of large network sizes. The latter result suggests the interesting possibility of observing quantum phase transitions of light on complex quantum networks even with very small couplings between the optical cavities.