- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

Physical Review Research

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Letter
  • Open Access

Symmetry breaking and non-ergodicity in a driven-dissipative ensemble of multilevel atoms in a cavity

Enrique Hernandez1, Elmer Suarez1, Igor Lesanovsky2,3, Beatriz Olmos2, Philippe W. Courteille4, and Sebastian Slama5,*

  • 1Center for Quantum Science and Physikalisches Institut, Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 14, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
  • 2Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 14, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
  • 3School of Physics and Astronomy and Centre for the Mathematics and Theoretical Physics of Quantum Non-Equilibrium Systems, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom
  • 4Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Centro de Pesquisa em Óptica é Fotônica, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Trab. São Carlense 400, São Carlos, 13566-590 São Paulo, Brazil
  • 5Center for Quantum Science and Physikalisches Institut, Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 14, 72076 Tübingen, Germany

  • *Contact author: sebastian.slama@uni-tuebingen.de
PDF

Phys. Rev. Research 6, L032072 – Published 26 September, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.L032072

Abstract

Dissipative light-matter systems can display emergent collective behavior. Here, we report a Z2-symmetry-breaking phase transition in a system of multilevel Rb87 atoms strongly coupled to a weakly driven two-mode optical cavity. In the symmetry-broken phase, nonergodic dynamics manifests in the emergence of multiple stationary states with disjoint basins of attraction. This feature enables the amplification of a small atomic population imbalance into a characteristic macroscopic cavity transmission signal. Our experiment does not only showcase strongly dissipative atom-cavity systems as platforms for probing nontrivial collective many-body phenomena, but also highlights their potential for hosting technological applications in the context of sensing, density classification, and pattern retrieval dynamics within associative memories.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (33)

  1. F. Carollo and I. Lesanovsky, Exactness of mean-field equations for open Dicke models with an application to pattern retrieval dynamics, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 230601 (2021).
  2. B. P. Marsh, Y. Guo, R. M. Kroeze, S. Gopalakrishnan, S. Ganguli, J. Keeling, and B. L. Lev, Enhancing associative memory recall and storage capacity using confocal cavity QED, Phys. Rev. X 11, 021048 (2021).
  3. J. J. Hopfield, Neural networks and physical systems with emergent collective computational abilities, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 79, 2554 (1982).
  4. S. Gopalakrishnan, B. L. Lev, and P. M. Goldbart, Frustration and glassiness in spin models with cavity-mediated interactions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 277201 (2011).
  5. E. Fiorelli, M. Marcuzzi, P. Rotondo, F. Carollo, and I. Lesanovsky, Signatures of associative memory behavior in a multimode Dicke model, Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 070604 (2020).
  6. B. P. Marsh, R. M. Kroeze, S. Ganguli, S. Gopalakrishnan, J. Keeling, and B. L. Lev, Entanglement and replica symmetry breaking in a driven-dissipative quantum spin glass, Phys. Rev. X 14, 011026 (2024).
  7. E. Suarez, F. Carollo, I. Lesanovsky, B. Olmos, P. W. Courteille, and S. Slama, Collective atom-cavity coupling and nonlinear dynamics with atoms with multilevel ground states, Phys. Rev. A 107, 023714 (2023).
  8. S. Slama, S. Bux, G. Krenz, C. Zimmermann, and P. W. Courteille, Superradiant Rayleigh scattering and collective atomic recoil lasing in a ring cavity, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 053603 (2007).
  9. K. Baumann, C. Guerlin, F. Brennecke, and T. Esslinger, Dicke quantum phase transition with a superfluid gas in an optical cavity, Nature (London) 464, 1301 (2010).
  10. R. M. Kroeze, Y. Guo, V. D. Vaidya, J. Keeling, and B. L. Lev, Spinor self-ordering of a quantum gas in a cavity, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 163601 (2018).
  11. E. J. Davis, A. Periwal, E. S. Cooper, G. Bentsen, S. J. Evered, K. Van Kirk, and M. H. Schleier-Smith, Protecting spin coherence in a tunable Heisenberg model, Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 060402 (2020).
  12. S. C. Schuster, P. Wolf, S. Ostermann, S. Slama, and C. Zimmermann, Supersolid properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a ring resonator, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 143602 (2020).
  13. H. Keßler, P. Kongkhambut, C. Georges, L. Mathey, J. G. Cosme, and A. Hemmerich, Observation of a dissipative time crystal, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 043602 (2021).
  14. T. D. F. Mivehvar, F. Piazza and H. Ritsch, Cavity QED with quantum gases: New paradigms in many-body physics, Adv. Phys. 70, 1 (2021).
  15. K. M. Birnbaum, A. S. Parkins, and H. J. Kimble, Cavity QED with multiple hyperfine levels, Phys. Rev. A 74, 063802 (2006).
  16. K. J. Arnold, M. P. Baden, and M. D. Barrett, Collective cavity quantum electrodynamics with multiple atomic levels, Phys. Rev. A 84, 033843 (2011).
  17. A. P. Orioli, J. K. Thompson, and A. M. Rey, Emergent dark states from superradiant dynamics in multilevel atoms in a cavity, Phys. Rev. X 12, 011054 (2022).
  18. B. Sundar, D. Barbarena, A. M. Rey, and A. P. Orioli, Squeezing multilevel atoms in dark states via cavity superradiance, Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 033601 (2024).
  19. A. Chu, A. P. Orioli, D. Barberena, J. K. Thompson, and A. M. Rey, Photon-mediated correlated hopping in a synthetic ladder, Phys. Rev. Res. 5, L022034 (2023).
  20. R. J. Valencia-Tortora, S. P. Kelly, T. Donner, G. Morigi, R. Fazio, and J. Marino, Crafting the dynamical structure of synchronization by harnessing bosonic multilevel cavity QED, Phys. Rev. Res. 5, 023112 (2023).
  21. P. Samutpraphoot, T. Đorđević, P. L. Ocola, H. Bernien, C. Senko, V. Vuletić, and M. D. Lukin, Strong coupling of two individually controlled atoms via a nanophotonic cavity, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 063602 (2020).
  22. T. W. Clark, A. Dombi, F. I. B. Williams, A. Kurko, J. Fortagh, D. Nagy, A. Vukics, and P. Domokos, Time-resolved observation of a dynamical phase transition of atoms in a cavity, Phys. Rev. A 105, 063712 (2022).
  23. B. Gabor, D. Nagy, A. Dombi, T. W. Clark, F. I. B. Williams, K. V. Adwaith, A. Vukics, and P. Domokos, Ground state bistability of cold atoms in a cavity, Phys. Rev. A 107, 023713 (2023).
  24. F. Ferri, R. Rosa-Medina, F. Finger, N. Dogra, M. Soriente, O. Zilberberg, T. Donner, and T. Esslinger, Emerging dissipative phases in a superradiant quantum gas with tunable decay, Phys. Rev. X 11, 041046 (2021).
  25. B. Gabor, D. Nagy, A. Vukics, and P. Domokos, Quantum bistability in the hyperfine ground state of atoms, Phys. Rev. Res. 5, L042038 (2023).
  26. M. Land and R. K. Belew, No perfect two-state cellular automata for density classification exists, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 5148 (1995).
  27. D.-S. Ding, Z.-K. Liu, B.-S. Shi, G.-C. Guo, K. Mølmer, and C. S. Adams, Enhanced metrology at the critical point of a many-body Rydberg atomic system, Nat. Phys. 18, 1447 (2022).
  28. See Supplemental Material at http://link.aps.org/supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.L032072 for derivation of the rate equation and universal features, experimental details, data evaluation, fit parameters, and additional measurements.
  29. M. Marcuzzi, E. Levi, S. Diehl, J. P. Garrahan, and I. Lesanovsky, Universal nonequilibrium properties of dissipative Rydberg gases, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 210401 (2014).
  30. D. Plankensteiner, C. Hotter, and H. Ritsch, QuantumCumulants.jl: A Julia framework for generalized mean-field equations in open quantum systems, Quantum 6, 617 (2022).
  31. V. R. Overbeck, M. F. Maghrebi, A. V. Gorshkov, and H. Weimer, Multicritical behavior in dissipative Ising models, Phys. Rev. A 95, 042133 (2017).
  32. P. Rotondo, M. Marcuzzi, J. P. Garrahan, I. Lesanovsky, and M. Müller, Open quantum generalisation of Hopfield neural networks, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 51, 115301 (2018).
  33. E. Fiorelli, I. Lesanovsky, and M. Müller, Phase diagram of quantum generalized Potts-Hopfield neural networks, New J. Phys. 24, 033012 (2022).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Research 6, L032072– Published 26 September, 2024
  • Received 28 May 2024
  • Accepted 10 September 2024
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation