01932nas a2200181 4500008004100000245005700041210005700098260001300155520138000168100002501548700002001573700002201593700002701615700002301642700002501665700002301690856003701713 2020 eng d00aCritical Theory for the Breakdown of Photon Blockade0 aCritical Theory for the Breakdown of Photon Blockade c6/9/20203 a

Photon blockade is the result of the interplay between the quantized nature of light and strong optical nonlinearities, whereby strong photon-photon repulsion prevents a quantum optical system from absorbing multiple photons. We theoretically study a single atom coupled to the light field, described by the resonantly driven Jaynes--Cummings model, in which case the photon blockade breaks down in a second order phase transition at a critical drive strength. We show that this transition is associated to the spontaneous breaking of an anti-unitary PT-symmetry. Within a semiclassical approximation we calculate the expectation values of observables in the steady state. We then move beyond the semiclassical approximation and approach the critical point from the disordered (blockaded) phase by reducing the Lindblad quantum master equation to a classical rate equation that we solve. The width of the steady-state distribution in Fock space is found to diverge as we approach the critical point with a simple power-law, allowing us to calculate the critical scaling of steady state observables without invoking mean-field theory. We propose a simple physical toy model for biased diffusion in the space of occupation numbers, which captures the universal properties of the steady state. We list several experimental platforms where this phenomenon may be observed.

1 aCurtis, Jonathan, B.1 aBoettcher, Igor1 aYoung, Jeremy, T.1 aMaghrebi, Mohammad, F.1 aCarmichael, Howard1 aGorshkov, Alexey, V.1 aFoss-Feig, Michael uhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2006.0559305805nas a2200145 4500008004100000245004900041210004900090260001500139520537700154100002305531700002005554700002305574700002505597856003705622 2017 eng d00aComplexity of sampling as an order parameter0 aComplexity of sampling as an order parameter c2017/03/153 a

We consider the classical complexity of approximately simulating time evolution under spatially local quadratic bosonic Hamiltonians for time t. We obtain upper and lower bounds on the scaling of twith the number of bosons, n, for which simulation, cast as a sampling problem, is classically efficient and provably hard, respectively. We view these results in the light of classifying phases of physical systems based on parameters in the Hamiltonian and conjecture a link to dynamical phase transitions. In doing so, we combine ideas from mathematical physics and computational complexity to gain insight into the behavior of condensed matter systems.

1 aDeshpande, Abhinav1 aFefferman, Bill1 aFoss-Feig, Michael1 aGorshkov, Alexey, V. uhttps://arxiv.org/abs/1703.0533200514nas a2200157 4500008004100000245006700041210006600108260001500174300001100189490000700200100002700207700001900234700002300253700002500276856005500301 2016 eng d00aCausality and quantum criticality in long-range lattice models0 aCausality and quantum criticality in longrange lattice models c2016/03/17 a1251280 v931 aMaghrebi, Mohammad, F.1 aGong, Zhe-Xuan1 aFoss-Feig, Michael1 aGorshkov, Alexey, V. uhttp://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.93.12512801582nas a2200169 4500008004100000245006700041210006600108260001500174300001100189490000700200520107500207100002701282700001901309700002301328700002501351856003601376 2016 eng d00aCausality and quantum criticality with long-range interactions0 aCausality and quantum criticality with longrange interactions c2016/03/17 a1251280 v923 a Quantum lattice systems with long-range interactions often exhibit drastically different behavior than their short-range counterparts. In particular, because they do not satisfy the conditions for the Lieb-Robinson theorem, they need not have an emergent relativistic structure in the form of a light cone. Adopting a field-theoretic approach, we study the one-dimensional transverse-field Ising model and a fermionic model with long-range interactions, explore their critical and near-critical behavior, and characterize their response to local perturbations. We deduce the dynamic critical exponent, up to the two-loop order within the renormalization group theory, which we then use to characterize the emergent causal behavior. We show that beyond a critical value of the power-law exponent of long-range interactions, the dynamics effectively becomes relativistic. Various other critical exponents describing correlations in the ground state, as well as deviations from a linear causal cone, are deduced for a wide range of the power-law exponent. 1 aMaghrebi, Mohammad, F.1 aGong, Zhe-Xuan1 aFoss-Feig, Michael1 aGorshkov, Alexey, V. uhttp://arxiv.org/abs/1508.0090601682nas a2200193 4500008004100000245006100041210006100102260001500163300001100178490000700189520113200196100002101328700002101349700001301370700002501383700002101408700002301429856003601452 2016 eng d00aCollective phases of strongly interacting cavity photons0 aCollective phases of strongly interacting cavity photons c2016/09/01 a0338010 v943 a

We study a coupled array of coherently driven photonic cavities, which maps onto a driven-dissipative XY spin-12 model with ferromagnetic couplings in the limit of strong optical nonlinearities. Using a site-decoupled mean-field approximation, we identify steady state phases with canted antiferromagnetic order, in addition to limit cycle phases, where oscillatory dynamics persist indefinitely. We also identify collective bistable phases, where the system supports two steady states among spatially uniform, antiferromagnetic, and limit cycle phases. We compare these mean-field results to exact quantum trajectories simulations for finite one-dimensional arrays. The exact results exhibit short-range antiferromagnetic order for parameters that have significant overlap with the mean-field phase diagram. In the mean-field bistable regime, the exact quantum dynamics exhibits real-time collective switching between macroscopically distinguishable states. We present a clear physical picture for this dynamics, and establish a simple relationship between the switching times and properties of the quantum Liouvillian.

1 aWilson, Ryan, M.1 aMahmud, Khan, W.1 aHu, Anzi1 aGorshkov, Alexey, V.1 aHafezi, Mohammad1 aFoss-Feig, Michael uhttp://arxiv.org/abs/1601.06857