Quantum Phase Transition of Light in the Rabi-Hubbard Model

Abstract

We discuss the physics of the Rabi-Hubbard model describing large arrays of coupled cavities interacting with two level atoms via a Rabi non-linearity. 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 non-linearity drives the system across a novel $Z_2$ parity symmetry-breaking quantum phase transition between two gapped phases, a Rabi insulator and a delocalized super-radiant phase.

9 pages, 5 figures; Contribution to J. Phys. B special issue celebrating Jaynes-Cummings physics

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Cited by in corpus (15)

• Keldysh Field Theory for Driven Open Quantum Systems
• Exotic attractors of the non-equilibrium Rabi-Hubbard model
• Chemical potential for light by parametric coupling
• Hybrid quantum magnetism in circuit-QED: from spin-photon waves to many-body spectroscopy
• Supersymmetry in quantum optics and in spin-orbit coupled systems
• Observation of Non-Markovian Spin Dynamics in a Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard Model using a Trapped-Ion Quantum Simulator
• Correlation-induced steady states and limit cycles in driven dissipative quantum systems
• Nonlinear two-photon Rabi-Hubbard model: superradiance and photon/photon-pair Bose-Einstein condensate
• Two-photon Rabi-Hubbard and Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard models: photon pair superradiance, Mott insulator and normal phases
• Simple variational ground state and pure cat state generation in the quantum Rabi model
• Quantum Monte Carlo Study of the Rabi-Hubbard Model
• Superfluid-Mott-insulator phase transition of light in a two-mode cavity array with ultrastrong coupling
• The Holstein Polaron Problem Revisited
• The Interspersed Spin Boson Lattice Model
• Quantum phase transition in the one-dimensional Dicke-Hubbard model with coupled qubits