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arXiv:1611.03342 · Physical Review Letters

Suppressing and Restoring the Dicke Superradiance Transition by Dephasing and Decay

Peter Kirton, Jonathan Keeling

Published Mar 23, 2017• 144 citations
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Abstract

We show that dephasing of individual atoms destroys the superradiance transition of the Dicke model, but that adding individual decay toward the spin down state can restore this transition. To demonstrate this, we present a method to give an exact solution for the N atom problem with individual dephasing which scales polynomially with N. By comparing finite size scaling of our exact solution to a cumulant expansion, we confirm the destruction and restoration of the superradiance transition hold in the thermodynamic limit.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.118.123602

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We show that dephasing of individual atoms destroys the superradiance transition of the Dicke model, but that adding individual decay toward the spin down state can restore this transition. To demonstrate this, we present a method to give an exact solution for the N atom problem with individual dephasing which scales polynomially with N. By comparing finite size scaling of our exact solution to a cumulant expansion, we confirm the destruction and restoration of the superradiance transition hold in the thermodynamic limit.
We study the steady-state behavior of the open Dicke model, which describes the collective interaction of NNN spin-1/21/21/2 particles with a lossy, quantized cavity mode and exhibits a superradiant phase transition above a critical light-matter coupling. While the standard model conserves total spin, Kirton and Keeling \cite{PhysRevLett.118.123602} demonstrated that even infinitesimal homogeneous local dephasing destroys this phase transition, and that local atomic decay can restore it. We analyze this interplay using degenerate perturbation theory across subspaces of fixed total spin, SSS. For coupling strengths above the threshold, there exists a critical spin value ScS_cSc​ such that the superradiant phase transition occurs only for S>ScS>S_cS>Sc​. The perturbative approach captures how weak dephasing and decay induce mixing between different SSS-subspaces, yielding a steady-state spin distribution whose width scales as 1/N1/\sqrt{N}1/N​. This framework requires only the first and second moments and can be implemented via different methods that can yield these two moments (for example, the 2nd-cumulant approach), circumventing the need for full density matrix calculations. These results bridge the quantum Rabi model and Dicke physics, elucidate the roles of dephasing and decay in collective quantum effects, and apply broadly to open quantum systems with degenerate steady states.
We study the steady-state behavior of the open Dicke model, which describes the collective interaction of NNN spin-1/21/21/2 particles with a lossy, quantized cavity mode and exhibits a superradiant phase transition above a critical light-matter coupling. While the standard model conserves total spin, Kirton and Keeling [Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 123602 (2017)] demonstrated that even infinitesimal homogeneous local dephasing destroys this phase transition and that local atomic decay can restore it. We analyze this interplay using degenerate perturbation theory across subspaces of fixed total spin, SSS. For coupling strengths above the threshold, there exists a critical spin value Sc{S}_{c}Sc​ such that the superradiant phase transition occurs only for S>ScS>{S}_{c}S>Sc​. The perturbative approach captures how weak dephasing and decay induce mixing between different SSS subspaces, yielding a steady-state spin distribution whose width scales as 1/N1/\sqrt{N}1/N​. This framework requires only the first and second moments and can be implemented via different methods that can yield these two moments (for example, the second-cumulant approach), circumventing the need for full density matrix calculations. These results bridge the quantum Rabi model and Dicke physics, elucidate the roles of dephasing and decay in collective quantum effects, and apply broadly to open quantum systems with degenerate steady states.
We investigate the thermodynamic limit of Dicke superradiance. We find an expression for the system's density matrix that we can prove is exact in the limit of large atom numbers NNN. This is in contrast to previously known solutions whose accuracy has only been established numerically and that are valid only for a range of times. We also introduce an asymptotically exact solution when the system is subject to additional incoherent decay of excitations as this is a common occurrence in experiments.
A system of NNN two-level atoms interacting with a quantized field, the so-called Dicke model of superradiance, is studied. By making use of a set of Glauber's coherent states for the field, the free energy of the system is calculated exactly in the thermodynamic limit. The results agree precisely with those obtained by Hepp and Lieb, who studied the same model using a different method. The exhibition of a phase transition of the system is presented mathematically in an elementary manner in our approach. The generalization to the case of finitely many radiation modes is also presented.
We explore the dissipative phase transition of the two-photon Dicke model, a topic that has garnered significant attention recently. Our analysis reveals that while single-photon loss does not stabilize the intrinsic instability in the model, the inclusion of two-photon loss restores stability, leading to the emergence of superradiant states, which coexist with the normal vacuum states. Using a second-order cumulant expansion for the photons, we derive an analytical description of the system in the thermodynamic limit, which agrees well with the exact calculation results. Additionally, we present the Wigner function for the system, shedding light on the breaking of the Z_{4} symmetry inherent in the model. These findings offer valuable insights into stabilization mechanisms in open quantum systems and pave the way for exploring complex nonlinear dynamics in two-photon Dicke models.
The transition to the super-radiant regime in the Dicke model of two-level atoms interacting with a one-mode radiation field has been argued to be impossible for many years. Recently, however, experimental results show that this transition is possible in an open system [1, 2]. Here we exhibit the power of the use of coherent states with restored symmetry to describe the superradiant regime of the Dicke Hamiltonian. These symmetry-adapted states allow for an analytic description of both the ground and first excited states. From these, analytical expressions for all expectation values of interest are obtained, valid for any number of atoms. All these results are exact in the thermodynamic limit.