Atom-phonon Coupling Research Articles

Release of virtual photon and phonon pairs from qubit-plasmon-phonon ultrastrong coupling system.

The most important difference between ultrastrong and non-ultrastrong coupling regimes is that the ground state contains excitations. We consider a qubit-plasmon-phonon ultrastrong coupling (USC) system with a three-level atom coupled to the photon and phonon via its upper two energy levels and show that spontaneous emission of the atom from its intermediate to its ground state produces photon and phonon pairs. It is shown that the current system can produce a strong photon/phonon stream and the atom-phonon coupling plays the active role, which ensures the experimental detection. The emission spectrum and various high-order correlation functions confirm the generation of the pairs of photons and phonons. Our study has important implications for future research on virtual photon and phonon pairs creation in the ground state of the USC regime.

Unconventional phonon blockade via atom-photon-phonon interaction in hybrid optomechanical systems.

Phonon nonlinearities play an important role in hybrid quantum networks and on-chip quantum devices. We investigate the phonon statistics of a mechanical oscillator in hybrid systems composed of an atom and one or two standard optomechanical cavities. An efficiently enhanced atom-phonon interaction can be derived via a tripartite atom-photon-phonon interaction, where the atom-photon coupling depends on the mechanical displacement without practically changing a cavity frequency. This novel mechanism of optomechanical interactions, as predicted recently by Cotrufo et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett.118, 133603 (2017)10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.133603], is fundamentally different from standard ones. In the enhanced atom-phonon coupling, the strong phonon nonlinearity at a single-excitation level is obtained in the originally weak-coupling regime, which leads to the appearance of phonon blockade. Moreover, the optimal parameter regimes are presented both for the cases of one and two cavities. We compared phonon-number correlation functions of different orders for mechanical steady states generated in the one-cavity hybrid system, revealing the occurrence of phonon-induced tunneling and different types of phonon blockade. Our approach offers an alternative method to generate and control a single phonon in the quantum regime and could have potential applications in single-phonon quantum technologies.

Comment on “Theory of phonon-assisted adsorption in graphene: Many-body infrared dynamics”

Two approximations used by Sengupta [Phys. Rev. B 100, 075429 (2019)] in numerically computing the adsorption rate of cold hydrogen atoms on suspended graphene are critically examined. The independent boson model approximation (IBMA) was used to compute the atom self-energy, and the single-pole approximation (SPA) was used to obtain the adsorption rate from the self-energy. It is shown explicitly that there are additional contributions to the self-energy appearing at the same order of the atom-phonon coupling as the IBMA terms that alter the value of the real part of the self-energy at low energies by several orders of magnitude in the regime of interest. This shift in the self-energy, consequently, renders the use of SPA invalid.

Phase diagram of a pure substance?

We discuss a two-dimensional model that leads to a phase diagram which reproduces at least qualitatively that of a pure substance. It is known that a spring between two atoms is due to a bond created by the interaction between the electrons of both atoms. Consequently a variation of the quantum state of the electrons involved in the bond can modify the elastic force constant of the spring. That is a kind of atom-phonon coupling. We consider a square lattice of N identical atoms linked by springs between atoms first and second nearest neighbors. We assume that the elastic force constants of all the springs can vary. The system is studied by using a variational method. First order phase transitions are obtained. The phase diagram of the system displays the features observed in the phase diagram of a pure substance: three thermodynamic phases, three coexistence curves, one triple point and one critical point. Applied pressure can be introduced in the model.

Infrared Problem in Cold Atom Quantum Physisorption on 2D Materials

Results from four different approximations to the phonon-assisted quantum adsorption rate for cold atoms on a 2D material are compared and contrasted: (1) a loop expansion (LE) based on the atom-phonon coupling, (2) non-crossing approximation (NCA), (3) independent boson model approximation (IBMA), and (4) a leading-order soft-phonon resummation method (SPR). The SPR method treats the adsorbed atom as a surface polaron where the phonon cloud accompanying the bound atom is a phonon coherent state. We conclude that, of the four approximations considered, only the SPR method gives a divergence-free result in the large membrane regime at finite temperature. The other three methods give an adsorption rate that diverges in the limit of an infinite surface.

Study of spin-conversion compound nanoparticles in the atom- phonon coupling model including a surface effect

We discuss a two dimensional model that is capable of reproducing, at least qualitatively, some of the experimentally observed features of spin-conversion compounds. The molecules of these compounds have two electronic energy levels separated by Δ. The values of the elastic constants of the springs contained in the molecules are lower in the upper level. Consequently, the crystal’s phonon branches depend on the electronic states of the molecules. The fundamental level is a low spin (LS) state and the excited one is a high-spin (HS) state. We study the thermal variation of the high spin fraction, i.e., the fraction of molecules in the (HS) level by using a model of atom-phonon coupling with a boundary effect: Δ = Δb for molecules within the bulk, and Δ = Δse < Δb for molecules on the boundary. These values are compound-dependent, but independent of the crystal’s size. Our model reproduces qualitatively two seemingly contradictory experimental results as well as the disappearance and reappearance of the hysteresis loop that is observed when the number N of crystal’s molecules is very small. Our model explains why the width of the hysteresis loop decreases with decreasing N. We find that for any N the crystal’s entropy vanish at 0K, in accordance with the third law of thermodynamics.

Infrared problem in quantum acoustodynamics at finite temperature

The phonon-assisted sticking rate of slow moving atoms impinging on an elastic membrane at nonzero temperature is studied analytically using a model with linear atom-phonon interactions, valid in the weak coupling regime. A perturbative expansion of the adsorption rate in the atom-phonon coupling is infrared divergent at zero temperature, and this infrared problem is exacerbated by finite temperature. The use of a coherent state phonon basis in the calculation, however, yields infrared-finite results even at finite temperature. The sticking probability with the emission of any finite number of phonons is explicitly seen to be exponentially small, and it vanishes as the membrane size grows, a result that was previously found at zero temperature; in contrast to the zero temperature case, this exponential suppression of the sticking probability persists even with the emission of an infinite number of soft phonons. Explicit closed-form expressions are obtained for the effects of soft-phonon emission at finite temperature on the adsorption rate. For slowly moving atoms, the model predicts that there is zero probability of sticking to a large elastic membrane at nonzero temperature and weak coupling.

Infrared problem in quantum acoustodynamics

Quantum electrodynamics (QED) provides a highly accurate description of phenomena involving the interaction of atoms with light. We argue that the quantum theory describing the interaction of cold atoms with a vibrating membrane--quantum acoustodynamics (QAD)--shares many issues and features with QED. Specifically, the adsorption of an atom on a vibrating membrane can be viewed as the counterpart to QED radiative electron capture. A calculation of the adsorption rate to lowest-order in the atom-phonon coupling is finite; however, higher-order contributions suffer from an infrared problem mimicking the case of radiative capture in QED. Terms in the perturbation series for the adsorption rate diverge as a result of massless particles in the model (flexural phonons of the membrane in QAD and photons in QED). We treat this infrared problem in QAD explicitly to obtain finite results by regularizing with a low-frequency cutoff that corresponds to the inverse size of the membrane. Using a coherent state basis for the soft phonon final state, we then sum the dominant contributions to derive a new formula for the multiphonon adsorption rate of atoms on the membrane that gives results that are finite, nonperturbative in the atom-phonon coupling, and consistent with the KLN theorem. For micromembranes, we predict a reduction with increasing membrane size for the low-energy adsorption rate. We discuss the relevance of this to the adsorption of a cold gas of atomic hydrogen on suspended graphene.

Confinement-induced resonances in ultracold atom-ion systems

We investigate confinement-induced resonances in a system composed by a tightly trapped ion and a moving atom in a waveguide. We determine the conditions for the appearance of such resonances in a broad region -- from the "long-wavelength" limit to the opposite case when the typical length scale of the atom-ion polarisation potential essentially exceeds the transverse waveguide width. We find considerable dependence of the resonance position on the atomic mass which, however, disappears in the "long-wavelength and zero-energy" limit, where the known result for the confined atom-atom scattering is reproduced. We also derive an analytic and a semi-analytic formula for the resonance position in the "long-wavelength and zero-energy" limit and we investigate numerically how the position of the resonance is affected by a finite atomic colliding energy. Our results, which can be investigated experimentally in the near future, could be used to determine the atom-ion scattering length, the temperature of the atomic ensemble in the presence of an ion impurity, and to control the atom-phonon coupling in a linear ion crystal in interaction with a quasi one dimensional atomic quantum gas.

Simulations of Edge Effect in 1D Spin Crossover Compounds by Atom-Phonon Coupling Model

We used the atom-phonon coupling model to explain and illustrate the behaviour of a linear nano-chain of molecules. The analysis of the system's behaviour was performed using Free Energy method, and by applying Monte Carlo Metropolis (MCM) method which take into account the phonon contribution. In particular we tested both the MCM algorithm and the dynamic-matrix method and we expose how the thermal behaviour of a 1D spin crossover system varies as a function of different factors. Furthermore we blocked the edge atoms of the chain in its high spin state to study the effect on the system's behaviour.

Infrared dynamics of cold atoms on hot graphene membranes

We study the infrared dynamics of low-energy atoms interacting with a sample of suspended graphene at finite temperature. The dynamics exhibits severe infrared divergences order by order in perturbation theory as a result of the singular nature of low-energy flexural phonon emission. Our model can be viewed as a two-channel generalization of the independent boson model with asymmetric atom-phonon coupling. This allows us to take advantage of the exact non-perturbative solution of the independent boson model in the stronger channel while treating the weaker one perturbatively. In the low-energy limit, the exact solution can be viewed as a resummation (exponentiation) of the most divergent diagrams in the perturbative expansion. As a result of this procedure, we obtain the atom's Green function which we use to calculate the atom damping rate, a quantity equal to the quantum sticking rate. A characteristic feature of our results is that the Green's function retains a weak, infrared cutoff dependence that reflects the reduced dimensionality of the problem. As a consequence, we predict a measurable dependence of the sticking rate on graphene sample size. We provide detailed predictions for the sticking rate of atomic hydrogen as a function of temperature and sample size. The resummation yields an enhanced sticking rate relative to the conventional Fermi golden rule result (equivalent to the one-loop atom self-energy), as higher-order processes increase damping at finite temperature.

Analysis of spin crossover nanochains using parabolic approximation in the framework of atom–phonon coupling model

In this paper the atom–phonon coupling model is applied to explain and illustrate the behavior of a linear chain of molecules in the case of spin crossover (SCO) compounds. It is well known that besides the system's cooperativity which influences the hysteretic behavior of SCO complexes, the size of the system also plays a determinant role. The system's properties are analyzed using a parabolic algorithm as a new method proposed herein for the first time in order to take into account the phonon contribution. Based on exact calculations, this method is closer to the reality and more efficient than the mean-field approximation (MFA). In particular, both the parabolic algorithm and the dynamic-matrix method are tested and compared and it is shown from the analysis of the system's behavior that large size can be handled without generating all the system states. We also analyzed the role of degeneracy, and the thermal variation of both the entropy and heat capacity in the ferromagnetic-like coupling case.

Study of the atom-phonon coupling model for (SC) partition function: first order phase transition for an infinite linear chain

In spin-conversion (SC) compounds containing molecules organized around an iron (II) ion the fundamental level of the ion is low spin (LS), S = 0, and its first excited one is high spin (HS), S = 2. This energy diagram is due to the ligands field interaction on 3d electrons and to the spin pairing energy. Heating the compound increases the magnetic susceptibility which corresponds to a change of populations of both levels and consequently a change of spin value of the molecules. This mechanism, called spin conversion (SC), can be accompagnied by thermal hysteresis observed by studying magnetic susceptibility or high spin fraction. In that case one considers that the (SC) takes place through a first-order phase transition due to intermolecular interactions. In the atom-phonon coupling model the molecules are considered as two-level systems, or two-level atoms, and it is assumed that the elastic force constant value of the spring which links two atoms first neighbours is depending on the electronic states of both atoms. In this study we calculate the partition function of a linear chain of N atoms (N ≤ 16) and we describe the role of phonons and that of the parameter Δ which corresponds to the distance in energy between both levels. The chain free-energy function is F atph . We introduce for the chain a free-energy function defined by the set (F HS , F LS , F barr ) and we show that F atph tends towards the previous set when N → ∞. The previous set allows to describe a first order phase transition between a (LS) phase and a (HS) one. At the crossing point between the function F LS and F HS , and around this point, there is an intermediate free-energy barrier which prevents the chain to change phase which can lead to thermal hysteresis. The energy gap between the free-energy function F atph and that defined by the set (F HS , F LS , F barr ) is small. So we can expect that a nanoparticule takes for free-energy function that defined by the set and then displays a thermal hysteresis.

Emulating Solid-State Physics with a Hybrid System of Ultracold Ions and Atoms

We propose and theoretically investigate a hybrid system composed of a crystal of trapped ions coupled to a cloud of ultracold fermions. The ions form a periodic lattice and induce a band structure in the atoms. This system combines the advantages of high fidelity operations and detection offered by trapped ion systems with ultracold atomic systems. It also features close analogies to natural solid-state systems, as the atomic degrees of freedom couple to phonons of the ion lattice, thereby emulating a solid-state system. Starting from the microscopic many-body Hamiltonian, we derive the low energy Hamiltonian, including the atomic band structure, and give an expression for the atom-phonon coupling. We discuss possible experimental implementations such as a Peierls-like transition into a period-doubled dimerized state.

Two-dimensional atom-phonon coupling model for spin conversion: role of metastable states

Spin conversion, (SC), compounds are composed of molecules organized around a transition metal ion. The ion spin value is smaller for the ion fundamental level than for its first excited one. So, increasing the temperature changes the spin mean value. This spin conversion can be continuous or can display a first order phase transition called spin transition. The atom phonon coupling model, introduced recently, allows to describe at least qualitatively different experimental results. Up to now, this model has been applied on a linear chain of atoms. In this paper we apply it on a square lattice. We study the thermal variations of different thermodynamic parameters and the metastable states which are present around the transition. In this study, it is expected that the critical point of some (SC) compounds can be reached by applying on them a small hydrostatic pressure; it is also expected that ultrasound pulses can induce, at a very low temperature, a conversion between the stable low spin state and the metastable high spin state and it is also predicted that the crystal sound velocity can display a discontinuity at the first order phase transition.

Metastable states at low temperature in spin crossover compounds in the framework of the atom-phonon coupling model

In the current study we report on the unusual results obtained in the framework of the atom-phonon coupling model: two metastables states at low temperatures. These results can explain the experimental results reported by Ould Moussa et al. [9] and Matsumoto et al. [10]. This type of SCO behavior is due to the competition between the Light-Induced Excited Spin State Trapping (LIESST) effect, the elastic interaction between the molecules and the thermal activation. In order to determine the stability of the states founded at low temperature, the free energy F is presented for the case of the two step spin transition of a SCO compound.

Phase diagram of two-dimensional spin crossover systems using the atom-phonon coupling model

Spin crossover compounds have attracted considerable research interest over the last few years due to their great potential for technological use in memory, sensors, switching, and display devices. They manifest a diverse phase transition behavior upon application of various physical stimuli, such as, heat, light, and pressure. The theoretical framework of this study is the so-called atom-phonon coupling model, which presumes elastic interactions between nearest-neighbor molecules with elastic constants depending on the electronic state of each molecule. The atom-phonon coupling model has been successful in approximating characteristics of the spin crossover compounds behavior, but has only been applied to a chain of molecules. In this paper we present results obtained for compounds with a 2D structure and we study the role of the elastic constants ratio on the phase diagram.

Analysis of phase transitions in spin-crossover compounds by using atom – phonon coupling model

The spin – crossover compounds (SCO) have become of great interest recently due to their potential applications in memories, sensors, switches, and display devices. These materials are particularly interesting because upon application of heat, light, pressure or other physical stimulus, they feature a phase transition between a low-spin (LS) diamagnetic ground state and a high-spin (HS) paramagnetic state, accompanied in some cases by color change. The phase transition can be discontinuous (with hysteresis), in two steps or gradual. Our analysis is performed by using the atom – phonon coupling (APC) model which considers that neighboring molecules are connected through a spring characterized by an elastic constant depending on molecules electronic state. By associating a fictitious spin to each molecule that has −1 and +1 eigenvalues corresponding to LS and HS levels respectively, an Ising type model can be developed for the analysis of metastable states and phase transitions in spin-crossover compounds. This contribution is aimed at providing a review of our recent results in this area, as well as novel aspects related to SCO compounds behavior at low temperature. In the framework of the APC model, we will discuss about the existence of metastable and unstable states, phase transitions and hysteresis phenomena, as well as their dependence on sample size.

Superfluidity of Interacting Bosonic Mixtures in Optical Lattices

We report the observation of many-body interaction effects for a homonuclear bosonic mixture in a three-dimensional optical lattice with variable state dependence along one axis. Near the superfluid-to-Mott insulator transition for one component, we find that the presence of a second component can reduce the apparent superfluid coherence, most significantly when the second component either experiences a strongly localizing lattice potential or none at all. We examine this effect by varying the relative populations and lattice depths, and discuss the observed behavior in view of recent proposals for atomic-disorder and polaron-induced localization.

Monte Carlo simulations of phase transitions and lattice dynamics in an atom–phonon model for spin transition compounds

We apply here the Monte Carlo Metropolis method to a known atom–phonon coupling model for 1D spin transition compounds (STC). These inorganic molecular systems can switch under thermal or optical excitation, between two states in thermodynamical competition, i.e. high spin (HS) and low spin (LS). In the model, the ST units (molecules) are linked by springs, whose elastic constants depend on the spin states of the neighboring atoms, and can only have three possible values. Several previous analytical papers considered a unique average value for the elastic constants (mean-field approximation) and obtained phase diagrams and thermal hysteresis loops. Recently, Monte Carlo simulation papers, taking into account all three values of the elastic constants, obtained thermal hysteresis loops, but no phase diagrams. Employing Monte Carlo simulation, in this work we obtain the phase diagram at T=0 K, which is fully consistent with earlier analytical work; however it is more complex. The main difference is the existence of two supplementary critical curves that mark a hysteresis zone in the phase diagram. This explains the pressure hysteresis curves at low temperature observed experimentally and predicts a “chemical” hysteresis in STC at very low temperatures. The formation and the dynamics of the domains are also discussed.