Photon Delocalization Research Articles

Nonlinear infrared polaritonic interaction between cavities mediated by molecular vibrations at ultrafast time scale.

Realizing nonlinear interactions between spatially separated particles can advance molecular science and technology, including remote catalysis of chemical reactions, ultrafast processing of information in infrared (IR) photonic circuitry, and advanced platforms for quantum simulations with increased complexity. Here, we achieved nonlinear interactions at ultrafast time scale between polaritons contained in spatially adjacent cavities in the mid-IR regime, altering polaritons in one cavity by pumping polaritons in an adjacent one. This was done by strong coupling molecular vibrational modes with photon modes, a process that combines characteristics of both photon delocalization and molecular nonlinearity. The dual photon/molecule character of polaritons enables delocalized nonlinearity-a property that neither molecular nor cavity mode would have alone.

Resilience of the superradiant phase against A2 effects in the quantum Rabi dimer

We explore the quantum criticality of a two-site model combining quantum Rabi models with hopping interaction. Through a combination of analytical and numerical approaches, we find that the model allows the appearance of a superradiant quantum phase transition (QPT) even in the presence of strong $\mathbf{A}^2$ terms, preventing single-site superradiance. In the two-site model the effect of $\mathbf{A}^2$ terms can be surmounted by the photon delocalization from hopping, and a reversed superradiant QPT occurs as a consequence of the competition between $\mathbf{A}^2$ terms and the hopping interaction. We characterize the phase diagram and scaling functions, and extract the critical exponents in the vicinity of the critical point, thus establishing the universal behavior of the second-order phase transition. Remarkably the effective hopping strength will be enhanced if more cavities are cascaded. We also prove that the multi-qubit counterpart of the quantum Rabi dimer, i.e., the Dicke dimer, has the same properties in beating the $\mathbf{A}^2$ effect. Our work provides a way to the study of phase transitions in presence of the $\mathbf{A}^2$ terms and offers the prospect of investigating quantum-criticality physics and quantum devices in many-body systems.

Photon–Qubit–Phonon Interactions: Engineering Photon Delocalization in a Rabi Dimer with a Dissipative Bath (Ann. Phys. 12/2018)

In article number 1800351, Yang Zhao and co-workers adopt the Dirac–Frenkel time-dependent variational principle combined with multiple Davydov D2 ansätze to investigate the dynamical behavior of Rabi dimers with qubits coupled to a phonon bath. Photons can hop between two transmission-line resonators with a tunneling rate J. In each resonator, a qubit interacts with the photon mode with a coupling strength g. Two qubits are also coupled to a common phonon bath with a strength d, which can be used to engineer photon delocalization.

Engineering Photon Delocalization in a Rabi Dimer with a Dissipative Bath

AbstractA Rabi dimer is used to model a recently reported circuit quantum electrodynamics system composed of two coupled transmission‐line resonators with each being coupled to one qubit. In this study, a phonon bath is adopted to mimic the multimode micromechanical resonators and is coupled to the qubits in the Rabi dimer. The dynamical behavior of the composite system is studied by the Dirac–Frenkel time‐dependent variational principle combined with the multiple Davydov D2 ansätze. Initially, all the photons are pumped into the left resonator, and the two qubits are in the down state coupled with the phonon vacuum. In the strong qubit–photon coupling regime, the photon dynamics can be engineered by tuning the qubit–bath coupling strength α and photon delocalization is achieved by increasing α. In the absence of dissipation, photons are localized in the initial resonator. Nevertheless, with moderate qubit–bath coupling, photons are delocalized with quasiequilibration of the photon population in two resonators at long times. In this case, high‐frequency bath modes are activated by interacting with depolarized qubits. For strong dissipation, photon delocalization is achieved via frequent photon‐hopping within two resonators and the qubits are suppressed in their initial down state.

Quantum phase transition of light in the Rabi–Hubbard model

We discuss the physics of the Rabi–Hubbard model describing large arrays of coupled cavities interacting with two level atoms via a Rabi nonlinearity. We show that the inclusion of counter-rotating terms in the light–matter interaction, often neglected in theoretical descriptions based on Jaynes–Cumming models, is crucial to stabilize finite-density quantum phases of correlated photons with no need for an artificially engineered chemical potential. We show that the physical properties of these phases and the quantum phase transition occurring between them is remarkably different from those of interacting bosonic massive quantum particles. The competition between photon delocalization and Rabi nonlinearity drives the system across a novel Z2 parity symmetry-breaking quantum phase transition between two gapped phases, a Rabi insulator and a delocalized super-radiant phase.

Phase Transition of Light in Cavity QED Lattices

Systems of strongly interacting atoms and photons, which can be realized wiring up individual cavity QED systems into lattices, are perceived as a new platform for quantum simulation. While sharing important properties with other systems of interacting quantum particles, here we argue that the nature of light-matter interaction gives rise to unique features with no analogs in condensed matter or atomic physics setups. By discussing the physics of a lattice model of delocalized photons coupled locally with two-level systems through the elementary light-matter interaction described by the Rabi model, we argue that the inclusion of counterrotating terms, so far neglected, is crucial to stabilize finite-density quantum phases of correlated photons out of the vacuum, with no need for an artificially engineered chemical potential. We show that the competition between photon delocalization and Rabi nonlinearity drives the system across a novel Z(2) parity symmetry-breaking quantum criticality between two gapped phases that share similarities with the Dicke transition of quantum optics and the Ising critical point of quantum magnetism. We discuss the phase diagram as well as the low-energy excitation spectrum and present analytic estimates for critical quantities.

Photon Delocalization Transition in Dimensional Crossover in Layered Media

We report a crossover in optical propagation in random layered media from localization towards diffusion as the interaction of the wave with the sample is transformed from one to three dimensional due to nonuniformity in the layer thickness. The crossover occurs at the point that the lateral spread of the wave equals the transverse coherence length in the transmitted speckle pattern.