arXiv:1611.00697 · Physical Review A
Nonequilibrium gas-liquid transition in the driven-dissipative photonic lattice
Matteo Biondi, G. Blatter, Hakan E. Türeci, Sebastian Schmidt
Abstract
We study the nonequilibrium steady state of the driven-dissipative Bose-Hubbard model with Kerr nonlinearity. Employing a mean-field decoupling for the intercavity hopping $J$, we find that the steep crossover between low and high photon-density states inherited from the single cavity transforms into a gas--liquid bistability at large cavity-coupling $J$. We formulate a van der Waals--like gas--liquid phenomenology for this nonequilibrium setting and determine the relevant phase diagrams, including a new type of diagram where a lobe-shaped boundary separates smooth crossovers from sharp, hysteretic transitions. Calculating quantum trajectories for a one-dimensional system, we provide insights into the microscopic origin of the bistability.