Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1306.3889 · Physical Review Letters

Cavity-Mediated Near-Critical Dissipative Dynamics of a Driven Condensate

Manas Kulkarni, Barış Öztop, Hakan E. Türeci

Published Nov 27, 2013• 48 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We investigate the near-critical dynamics of atomic density fluctuations in the nonequilibrium self-organization transition of an optically driven quantum gas coupled to a single mode of a cavity. In this system cavity-mediated long-range interactions between atoms, tunable by the drive strength, lead to softening of an excitation mode recently observed in experiments. This phenomenon has previously been studied within a two-mode approximation for the collective motional degrees of freedom of the atomic condensate, which results in an effective open-system Dicke model. Here, including the full spectrum of atomic modes we find a finite lifetime for a rotonlike mode in the Bogoliubov excitation spectrum that is strongly pump dependent. The corresponding decay rate and critical exponents for the phase transition are calculated explaining the nonmonotonic pump-dependent atomic damping rate observed in recent experiments. We compute the near-critical behavior of the intracavity field fluctuations that has been previously shown to be enhanced with respect to the equilibrium Dicke model in a two-mode approximation. We highlight the role of the finite size of the system in the suppression of it below the expectations of the open Dicke model.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.111.220408

Related papers

Excitations of optically driven atomic condensate in a cavity: theory of photodetection measurements

Barış Öztop, Mykola Bordyuh, Özgür Esat Müstecaplıoğlu +1 more

Recent experiments have demonstrated an open system realization of the Dicke quantum phase transition in the motional degrees of freedom of an optically driven Bose–Einstein condensate in a cavity. Relevant collective excitations of this light–matter system are polaritonic in nature, allowing access to the quantum critical behavior of the Dicke model through light leaking out of the cavity. This opens the path to using photodetection-based quantum optical techniques to study the dynamics and excitations of this elementary quantum critical system. We first discuss the photon flux observed at the cavity face and find that it displays a different scaling law near criticality than that obtained from the mean-field theory for the equivalent closed system. Next, we study the second-order correlation measurements of photons leaking out of the cavity. Finally, we discuss a modulation technique that directly captures the softening of polaritonic excitations. Our analysis takes into account the effect of the finite size of the system, which may result in an effective symmetry-breaking term.

arXiv:1107.3108•New Journal of Physics•Aug 17, 2012•88 citations

Real-time observation of fluctuations at the driven-dissipative Dicke phase transition

Ferdinand Brennecke, Rafael Mottl, Kristian Baumann +3 more

We experimentally study the influence of dissipation on the driven Dicke quantum phase transition, realized by coupling external degrees of freedom of a Bose-Einstein condensate to the light field of a high-finesse optical cavity. The cavity provides a natural dissipation channel, which gives rise to vacuum-induced fluctuations and allows us to observe density fluctuations of the gas in real-time. We monitor the divergence of these fluctuations over two orders of magnitude while approaching the phase transition, and observe a behavior that deviates significantly from that expected for a closed system. A correlation analysis of the fluctuations reveals the diverging time scale of the atomic dynamics and allows us to extract a damping rate for the external degree of freedom of the atoms. We find good agreement with our theoretical model including dissipation via both the cavity field and the atomic field. Using a dissipation channel to nondestructively gain information about a quantum many-body system provides a unique path to study the physics of driven-dissipative systems.

arXiv:1304.4939•Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences•Jul 1, 2013•213 citations

Collective excitations of a laser driven atomic condensate in an optical cavity

Barış Öztop, Özgür Esat Müstecaplıoğlu, Hakan E. Türeci

We theoretically examine collective excitations of an optically driven atomic Bose-Einstein condensate, coupled to a high-finesse optical cavity. This open system has been recently used for the experimental demonstration of the Dicke superradiance of cavity photons, which is simultaneously and mutually triggered by spontaneous breaking of translational symmetry of the condensate into a crystalline order. We first develop a Hartree-Fock mean field dynamical model of the physical system. Using this model, we compute the dynamics of the cavity photons, the condensate density profile and the Dicke phase transition diagram. Both the imaginary-time and real-time evolution methods are used in the calculations. Collective excitations are determined by the solving Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. The spectrum, softening of the modes and energetic hierarchy of excitations are determined.

Laser Physics•Jan 11, 2013•3 citations

Observation of a zero-energy excitation mode in the open Dicke model

Anton Bölian, Phatthamon Kongkhambut, Christoph Georges +6 more

Approaching phase boundaries in many-body systems can give rise to intriguing signatures in their excitation spectra. Here, we explore the excitation spectrum of a Bose-Einstein condensate strongly coupled to an optical cavity and pumped by an optical standing wave, which simulates the famous Dicke-Hepp-Lieb phase transition of the open Dicke model with dissipation arising due to photon leakage from the cavity. For weak dissipation, the excitation spectrum displays two strongly polaritonic modes. Close to the phase boundary, we observe an intriguing regime where the lower energetic of these modes, instead of showing the expected roton-type mode softening, is found to approach and persist at zero energy, well before the critical pump strength for the Dicke-Hepp-Lieb transition boundary is reached. Hence, a peculiar situation arises, where an excitation is possible at zero energy cost, but nevertheless no instability of the system is created.

arXiv:2502.12155•Physical Review Research•Jul 14, 2025•0 citations

Critical exponent of a quantum-noise-driven phase transition: The open-system Dicke model

D. Nagy, Gergely Szirmai, P. Domokos

The quantum phase transition of the Dicke model has been observed recently in a system formed by motional excitations of a laser-driven Bose-Einstein condensate coupled to an optical cavity [Baumann et al., Nature (London) 464, 1301 (2010)]. The cavity-based system is intrinsically open: photons leak out of the cavity where they are detected. Even at zero temperature, the continuous weak measurement of the photon number leads to an irreversible dynamics toward a steady state. In the framework of a generalized Bogoliubov theory, we show that the steady state exhibits a dynamical quantum phase transition. We find that the critical point and the mean field are only slightly modified with respect to the phase transition in the ground state. However, the critical exponents of the singular quantum correlations are significantly different in the two cases. There is also a drastic modification of the atom-field entanglement, since the divergence of the logarithmic negativity of the ground state at the critical point is suppressed and a finite entanglement is found in the steady state.

arXiv:1107.4323•Physical Review A•Oct 24, 2011•141 citations

Synchronization of Quasiparticle Excitations in a Quantum Gas with Cavity-Mediated Interactions

Gabriele Natale, Alexander Baumgärtner, Justyna Stefaniak +5 more

Driven-dissipative quantum systems can undergo transitions from stationary to dynamical phases, reflecting the emergence of collective nonequilibrium behavior. We study such a transition in a Bose-Einstein condensate coupled to an optical cavity and develop a cavity-assisted Bragg spectroscopy technique to resolve its collective modes. We observe dissipation-induced synchronization at the quasiparticle level, where two rotonlike modes coalesce at an exceptional point. This reveals how dissipation microscopically drives collective dynamics and signals a precursor to a dynamical phase transition.

arXiv:2504.17731•Physical Review Letters•Jan 2, 2026•2 citations
We investigate the near-critical dynamics of atomic density fluctuations in the nonequilibrium self-organization transition of an optically driven quantum gas coupled to a single mode of a cavity. In this system cavity-mediated long-range interactions between atoms, tunable by the drive strength, lead to softening of an excitation mode recently observed in experiments. This phenomenon has previously been studied within a two-mode approximation for the collective motional degrees of freedom of the atomic condensate, which results in an effective open-system Dicke model. Here, including the full spectrum of atomic modes we find a finite lifetime for a rotonlike mode in the Bogoliubov excitation spectrum that is strongly pump dependent. The corresponding decay rate and critical exponents for the phase transition are calculated explaining the nonmonotonic pump-dependent atomic damping rate observed in recent experiments. We compute the near-critical behavior of the intracavity field fluctuations that has been previously shown to be enhanced with respect to the equilibrium Dicke model in a two-mode approximation. We highlight the role of the finite size of the system in the suppression of it below the expectations of the open Dicke model.
Recent experiments have demonstrated an open system realization of the Dicke quantum phase transition in the motional degrees of freedom of an optically driven Bose–Einstein condensate in a cavity. Relevant collective excitations of this light–matter system are polaritonic in nature, allowing access to the quantum critical behavior of the Dicke model through light leaking out of the cavity. This opens the path to using photodetection-based quantum optical techniques to study the dynamics and excitations of this elementary quantum critical system. We first discuss the photon flux observed at the cavity face and find that it displays a different scaling law near criticality than that obtained from the mean-field theory for the equivalent closed system. Next, we study the second-order correlation measurements of photons leaking out of the cavity. Finally, we discuss a modulation technique that directly captures the softening of polaritonic excitations. Our analysis takes into account the effect of the finite size of the system, which may result in an effective symmetry-breaking term.
We experimentally study the influence of dissipation on the driven Dicke quantum phase transition, realized by coupling external degrees of freedom of a Bose-Einstein condensate to the light field of a high-finesse optical cavity. The cavity provides a natural dissipation channel, which gives rise to vacuum-induced fluctuations and allows us to observe density fluctuations of the gas in real-time. We monitor the divergence of these fluctuations over two orders of magnitude while approaching the phase transition, and observe a behavior that deviates significantly from that expected for a closed system. A correlation analysis of the fluctuations reveals the diverging time scale of the atomic dynamics and allows us to extract a damping rate for the external degree of freedom of the atoms. We find good agreement with our theoretical model including dissipation via both the cavity field and the atomic field. Using a dissipation channel to nondestructively gain information about a quantum many-body system provides a unique path to study the physics of driven-dissipative systems.
We theoretically examine collective excitations of an optically driven atomic Bose-Einstein condensate, coupled to a high-finesse optical cavity. This open system has been recently used for the experimental demonstration of the Dicke superradiance of cavity photons, which is simultaneously and mutually triggered by spontaneous breaking of translational symmetry of the condensate into a crystalline order. We first develop a Hartree-Fock mean field dynamical model of the physical system. Using this model, we compute the dynamics of the cavity photons, the condensate density profile and the Dicke phase transition diagram. Both the imaginary-time and real-time evolution methods are used in the calculations. Collective excitations are determined by the solving Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. The spectrum, softening of the modes and energetic hierarchy of excitations are determined.
Approaching phase boundaries in many-body systems can give rise to intriguing signatures in their excitation spectra. Here, we explore the excitation spectrum of a Bose-Einstein condensate strongly coupled to an optical cavity and pumped by an optical standing wave, which simulates the famous Dicke-Hepp-Lieb phase transition of the open Dicke model with dissipation arising due to photon leakage from the cavity. For weak dissipation, the excitation spectrum displays two strongly polaritonic modes. Close to the phase boundary, we observe an intriguing regime where the lower energetic of these modes, instead of showing the expected roton-type mode softening, is found to approach and persist at zero energy, well before the critical pump strength for the Dicke-Hepp-Lieb transition boundary is reached. Hence, a peculiar situation arises, where an excitation is possible at zero energy cost, but nevertheless no instability of the system is created.
The quantum phase transition of the Dicke model has been observed recently in a system formed by motional excitations of a laser-driven Bose-Einstein condensate coupled to an optical cavity [Baumann et al., Nature (London) 464, 1301 (2010)]. The cavity-based system is intrinsically open: photons leak out of the cavity where they are detected. Even at zero temperature, the continuous weak measurement of the photon number leads to an irreversible dynamics toward a steady state. In the framework of a generalized Bogoliubov theory, we show that the steady state exhibits a dynamical quantum phase transition. We find that the critical point and the mean field are only slightly modified with respect to the phase transition in the ground state. However, the critical exponents of the singular quantum correlations are significantly different in the two cases. There is also a drastic modification of the atom-field entanglement, since the divergence of the logarithmic negativity of the ground state at the critical point is suppressed and a finite entanglement is found in the steady state.
Driven-dissipative quantum systems can undergo transitions from stationary to dynamical phases, reflecting the emergence of collective nonequilibrium behavior. We study such a transition in a Bose-Einstein condensate coupled to an optical cavity and develop a cavity-assisted Bragg spectroscopy technique to resolve its collective modes. We observe dissipation-induced synchronization at the quasiparticle level, where two rotonlike modes coalesce at an exceptional point. This reveals how dissipation microscopically drives collective dynamics and signals a precursor to a dynamical phase transition.