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  • Open Access

Controlling emergent dynamical behavior via phase-engineered strong symmetries

Marc Nairn*, Beatriz Olmos, and Parvinder Solanki

  • *Contact author: marc.nairn@unituebingen.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033166 – Published 10 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xmv1-b9cw

Abstract

Symmetry constraints provide a powerful means to control the dynamics of open quantum systems. However, the set of accessible control parameters is often limited. Here, we show that a tunable phase in the collective light-matter coupling of a cavity QED system induces a phase-dependent strong symmetry of the Liouvillian, enabling dynamical control of the open quantum system evolution. We demonstrate that tuning this phase substantially reduces the critical driving strength for dissipative phase transitions between stationary and nonstationary phases. We illustrate this mechanism in two experimentally relevant cavity QED settings: a two-species ensemble of two-level atoms and a single-species ensemble of three-level atoms. Our results establish phase control as a versatile tool for engineering dissipative phase transitions, with implications for quantum state preparation.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033166– Published 10 August, 2026
  • Received 26 February 2026
  • Accepted 14 July 2026
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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.

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