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:2509.12321 · Physical Review Letters

Driven-Dissipative Landau Polaritons: Two Highly Nonlinearly Coupled Quantum Harmonic Oscillators

Farokh Mivehvar

Published Feb 10, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Landau levels (LLs) are the massively degenerate discrete energy spectra of charged particles in a transverse magnetic field, and they lie at the heart of many intriguing phenomena, such as the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects as well as quantized vortices. In this Letter, we consider coupling of LLs of a transversely driven, single charge-neutral particle in a synthetic gauge potential to a quantized field of an optical cavity-a setting reminiscent of superradiant self-ordering setups in quantum gases. We uncover that this complex system can be, surprisingly, described in terms of two highly nonlinearly coupled quantum harmonic oscillators, thus enabling a full quantum mechanical treatment. Light-matter coupling mixes the LLs and the superradiant photonic mode, leading to the formation of hybrid states referred to as "Landau polaritons." They partially inherit the degeneracy of the LLs and possess intriguing features such as nonzero light-matter entanglement and quadrature squeezing. Depending on the system parameters and the choice of initial state, the system exhibits diverse nonequilibrium quantum dynamics and multiple steady states with distinct physical properties. This Letter lays the foundation for further investigating the novel, driven-dissipative Landau-polariton physics in quantum-gas-cavity-QED settings.

DOI
10.1103/h7nq-d6dd

Related papers

Deep Strong light-matter Coupling in 3D Kane Fermions

Dmitriy Yavorskiy, David Hagenmuller, Noureddine Charrouj +5 more

Deep strong light-matter coupling represents an extreme non-perturbative regime of quantum electrodynamics, in which the interaction strength exceeds the bare frequencies of the uncoupled systems. The ground state features strong quantum correlations between photons and matter excitations, and new cavity-driven phase transitions are expected to occur. Whether a superradiant quantum phase transition, marked by spontaneous dipole ordering and photon condensation, is possible has remained a long-standing and controversial question. Such phenomena have been proposed to arise in exotic electronic systems hosting Dirac and Kane fermions, owing to the formal absence of an $A^2$ term in their low-energy Hamiltonian. Here we exploit the ultralow effective mass of Kane fermions to realise Landau polaritons in a bulk mercury cadmium telluride layer coupled to a Fabry-Perot resonator. Using thermally tunable carrier density, we continuously tune the coupling from the weak to the deep-strong regime, achieving a record normalised coupling ratio exceeding 1.6 above room temperature. The measured polariton spectra are in excellent agreement with a rigorous, gauge-invariant microscopic theory. Despite the nonlinear Landau level structure of relativistic Kane fermions, we show that a diamagnetic $A^2$ term naturally emerges and precludes a superradiant phase transition. These results resolve the long-standing controversy surrounding cavity quantum electrodynamics of relativistic-like matter systems, extend deep-strong-coupling physics to Kane fermions, and open new opportunities for polaritonic semiconductor devices operating in extreme light-matter coupling regimes.

cond-mat.mes-hallCross-listedarXiv:2604.28042•May 1, 2026

Floquet Engineering of a Quasiequilibrium Superradiant Phase Transition in Landau Polaritons

Wen-Hua Wu, Fuyang Tay, Mengqian Che +3 more

Superradiant phase transitions (SRPTs), characterized by photon condensation and macroscopic matter polarization, are forbidden in equilibrium for homogeneous fields by no-go theorems. Here, we show that Floquet driving can circumvent this constraint in a Landau polariton system consisting of a two-dimensional electron gas coupled to a terahertz cavity in a DC magnetic field. An off-resonant AC magnetic field modulates the cyclotron frequency and light--matter coupling strength while leaving the diamagnetic term unchanged, generating an additional DC coupling contribution. This drives the system across a critical threshold into a superradiant phase, characterized by photon condensation and Landau-level polarization in the ground state of the Floquet Hamiltonian. This quasiequilibrium approach offers a route to SRPTs distinct from driven-dissipative schemes.

cond-mat.mes-hallCross-listedarXiv:2604.08635•Apr 10, 2026

Synthetic gauge potentials for the dark state polaritons in atomic media

Yu-Hung Kuan, Siang-Wei Shao, I-Kang Liu +4 more

The quest of utilizing neutral particles to simulate the behaviour of charged particles in a magnetic field makes the generation of artificial magnetic field of great interest. The previous and the only proposal for the production of synthetic magnetic field for the dark state polaritons in electromagnetically induced transparency invokes the mechanical rotation of a sample. Here, we put forward an optical scheme to generate effective gauge potentials for stationary-light polaritons. 5To demonstrate the capabilities of our approach, we present recipes for having dark state polaritons in degenerate Landau levels and in driven quantum harmonic oscillator. Our scheme paves a novel way towards the investigation of the bosonic analogue of the fractional quantum Hall effect by electromagnetically induced transparency.

arXiv:2104.11031•Apr 22, 2021•0 citations

Magnetic Phase Transitions in Driven-Dissipative Atomic Ensembles Interacting with Quantum Light

Jan Gelhausen

Present-day experiments have started to couple traditional simulations of ultracold atom experiments with quantum light-fields in cavities. This has provided a wealth of op- portunities to enlarge the number of interaction potentials: cavity mediated long-range interactions compete with kinetic energies, longitudinal fields, short-ranged collisional or magnetic spin-spin interactions. The intracavity many-body lattice models often have to be maintained far from equilibrium through the presence of external driving lasers that help to boost and engineer the various interaction potentials. The steady influx of energy is compensated by a steady stream of energy out of the atom-cavity system for example by photon losses or atomic spontaneous emission. Several experiments have demonstrated that such environments can give rise to new competing quantum phases. \nBut this long-standing ambition to push for models with tailorable interaction potentials can bring with it also considerable challenges in their theoretical description, since sponta- neous symmetry breaking transitions in many body lattice systems coupled to dynamical light-fields with single-photon character occur in the presence of drive and dissipation for the photonic force carriers. This clearly calls for model systems where the above men- tioned interplay of interactions, drive, dissipation and cooperative many-body behaviour can be theoretically studied to provide simple, experimentally verifiable predictions. \nThe Dicke model is, through its simplicity (an exactly solved ferromagnet with infinite range atom-atom interactions mediated by a single cavity mode), an exceptionally well- suited candidate. As the generic model for atom-light interactions, it has been experimen- tally realized in a variety of modern quantum optical systems, highlighting its relevance for present-day research. The Dicke model is also highly versatile itself. It has been extended into the dissipative realm, was promoted to account for multiple optical light modes and was used to describe multiple, coupled single-mode cavity structures. It was adapted to treat spin-selective coupling to a cavity to describe superradiance phase tran- sitions in multi-level atomic systems. Moreover, it was realised in electronic circuits where the dipole coupling of real atoms to single mode fields is replaced by a capacitive cou- pling of artificial atoms to a resonator mode. This illustrates that the Dicke model and its extended variants are ’future-proof’ and continue to be of relevance for fundamental light-matter interactions and for driven-dissipative phase transitions. \nIn this thesis, we investigate magnetic phase transitions in driven-dissipative atomic en- sembles interacting with quantum light. We present three research projects on variants of cooperative radiation of an ensemble of laser driven two-level atoms in a single mode optical cavity, as described by the Dicke model. \nThroughout the chapters 2,3 and 4 that contain the main body of research of this thesis, we investigate phase transitions between non-equilibrium stationary states in engineered quantum-optical systems each of which extends the conventional Dicke model physics. As a starting point, we map the quantum equations of motion onto a set of semiclassical nonlinear stochastic equations and analyse their stationary states and instabilities with master equations for atomic spin and photon mean-field amplitudes. These are used to obtain experimentally relevant parameters such as critical atom-light couplings for phase transitions, phase diagrams and properties of stationary non-equilibrium states in addition to cavity output spectra that identify the imprint of magnetic correlations in the light-field. \nIn chapter 2, we help resolve a discrepancy between earlier experimental investigations of the critical atom-light coupling strength for the superradiance transition in the Dicke model: higher external pumping strengths than theoretically predicted were needed to observe a coherent, superradiant state of the light field in an optical cavity. By including incoherent spontaneous emission of atomic excitations, we extend the dissipative Dicke model to a two loss channel variant containing both photon leakage and atomic decay that reproduces the experimentally observed critical atom-light coupling. \nRecent experiments have started to interface quantum many body lattice models with coherent cavity fields, thereby allowing to realize new quantum phases through competing atom-cavity and atom-atom interactions. In chapter 3, we consider a simplified model for such a set-up where a single quantized mode of the light-field interacts with an ensemble of Rydberg-dressed atoms inside a high finesse optical cavity. This model provides a base case for further studies of quantum magnets in optical cavities. At the heart of this model is a competition of short- (dipolar atom-atom) and long-range (atom-light) interactions at the Hamiltonian level in the presence of both spontaneous emission and photon leak- age through the cavity mirrors. We show that different magnetic phases can coexist with coherent atomic radiation and provide clear experimental signatures to identify the mag- netic structure and intra-cavity dynamics. We suggest an experimental level-scheme for a quantum optical implementation of our model. \nIn chapter 4 we consider a generic, collective decay for many-body excitations in the paradigmatic Dicke model. This extension drastically enriches the dynamics as it induces a bicritical point and a bistable regime dominated by true non-equilibrium fluctuations that induce a dissipative first-order phase transition that can only be resolved by including finite fluctuation corrections with the help of stochastic Langevin equations. We investigate the hysteretic response to time-dependent ramps of the atom-light coupling. Discontinuous first-order phase transitions where metastable states coexist in a hysteresis domain have been investigated in recent dissipative quantum-optical experiments. We review noise- activation far from thermal equilibrium in chapter 5.

•Aug 1, 2018•0 citations

Quantum dynamics of the driven and dissipative Rabi model

Loïc Henriet, Zoran Ristivojević, Peter P. Orth +1 more

The Rabi model considers a two-level system (or spin 1/2) coupled to a quantized harmonic oscillator and describes the simplest interaction between matter and light. The recent experimental progress in solid-state circuit quantum electrodynamics has engendered theoretical efforts to quantitatively describe the mathematical and physical aspects of the light-matter interaction beyond the rotating-wave approximation. We develop a stochastic Schr\"odinger equation approach which enables us to access the strong-coupling limit of the Rabi model and study the effects of dissipation and ac drive in an exact manner. We include the effect of Ohmic noise on the non-Markovian spin dynamics, resulting in Kondo-type correlations, as well as cavity losses. We compute the time evolution of spin variables in various conditions. As a consideration for future work, we discuss the possibility of reaching a steady state with one polariton in realistic experimental conditions.

arXiv:1401.4558•Physical Review A•Aug 12, 2014•45 citations

Delayed Formation of Landau Polaritons in Phase-Resolved THz Spectroscopy

Noureddine Charrouj, Yurii Ivonyak, Dmitriy Yavorskiy +4 more

Strong light-matter coupling gives rise to polaritons through coherent and periodic energy exchange between electromagnetic cavity fields and material excitations. While this interaction is typically inferred from spectral mode splitting, its dynamics remain largely unexplored. Here, using phase-resolved terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, we observe Rabi oscillations of Landau polaritons formed by coupling the cyclotron resonance in a GaAs/Al$_{0.36}$Ga$_{0.64}$As two-dimensional electron gas with Fabry-Perot cavity modes. By employing cross-polarized spectroscopy and magnetic-field differential, we resolve the temporal beating of the cyclotron resonance oscillations. Remarkably, we find that the Rabi oscillations do not start immediately after excitation of the cyclotron resonance, but after a delay corresponding to one cavity round-trip time. This demonstrates that the strong-coupling regime sets up only after the formation of the cavity mode field. Our results provide direct insight into the dynamics of hybrid light-matter states in the THz regime.

cond-mat.mes-hallCross-listedarXiv:2607.29501•Aug 3, 2026
Landau levels (LLs) are the massively degenerate discrete energy spectra of charged particles in a transverse magnetic field, and they lie at the heart of many intriguing phenomena, such as the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects as well as quantized vortices. In this Letter, we consider coupling of LLs of a transversely driven, single charge-neutral particle in a synthetic gauge potential to a quantized field of an optical cavity-a setting reminiscent of superradiant self-ordering setups in quantum gases. We uncover that this complex system can be, surprisingly, described in terms of two highly nonlinearly coupled quantum harmonic oscillators, thus enabling a full quantum mechanical treatment. Light-matter coupling mixes the LLs and the superradiant photonic mode, leading to the formation of hybrid states referred to as "Landau polaritons." They partially inherit the degeneracy of the LLs and possess intriguing features such as nonzero light-matter entanglement and quadrature squeezing. Depending on the system parameters and the choice of initial state, the system exhibits diverse nonequilibrium quantum dynamics and multiple steady states with distinct physical properties. This Letter lays the foundation for further investigating the novel, driven-dissipative Landau-polariton physics in quantum-gas-cavity-QED settings.
Deep strong light-matter coupling represents an extreme non-perturbative regime of quantum electrodynamics, in which the interaction strength exceeds the bare frequencies of the uncoupled systems. The ground state features strong quantum correlations between photons and matter excitations, and new cavity-driven phase transitions are expected to occur. Whether a superradiant quantum phase transition, marked by spontaneous dipole ordering and photon condensation, is possible has remained a long-standing and controversial question. Such phenomena have been proposed to arise in exotic electronic systems hosting Dirac and Kane fermions, owing to the formal absence of an A2A^2A2 term in their low-energy Hamiltonian. Here we exploit the ultralow effective mass of Kane fermions to realise Landau polaritons in a bulk mercury cadmium telluride layer coupled to a Fabry-Perot resonator. Using thermally tunable carrier density, we continuously tune the coupling from the weak to the deep-strong regime, achieving a record normalised coupling ratio exceeding 1.6 above room temperature. The measured polariton spectra are in excellent agreement with a rigorous, gauge-invariant microscopic theory. Despite the nonlinear Landau level structure of relativistic Kane fermions, we show that a diamagnetic A2A^2A2 term naturally emerges and precludes a superradiant phase transition. These results resolve the long-standing controversy surrounding cavity quantum electrodynamics of relativistic-like matter systems, extend deep-strong-coupling physics to Kane fermions, and open new opportunities for polaritonic semiconductor devices operating in extreme light-matter coupling regimes.
Superradiant phase transitions (SRPTs), characterized by photon condensation and macroscopic matter polarization, are forbidden in equilibrium for homogeneous fields by no-go theorems. Here, we show that Floquet driving can circumvent this constraint in a Landau polariton system consisting of a two-dimensional electron gas coupled to a terahertz cavity in a DC magnetic field. An off-resonant AC magnetic field modulates the cyclotron frequency and light--matter coupling strength while leaving the diamagnetic term unchanged, generating an additional DC coupling contribution. This drives the system across a critical threshold into a superradiant phase, characterized by photon condensation and Landau-level polarization in the ground state of the Floquet Hamiltonian. This quasiequilibrium approach offers a route to SRPTs distinct from driven-dissipative schemes.
The quest of utilizing neutral particles to simulate the behaviour of charged particles in a magnetic field makes the generation of artificial magnetic field of great interest. The previous and the only proposal for the production of synthetic magnetic field for the dark state polaritons in electromagnetically induced transparency invokes the mechanical rotation of a sample. Here, we put forward an optical scheme to generate effective gauge potentials for stationary-light polaritons. 5To demonstrate the capabilities of our approach, we present recipes for having dark state polaritons in degenerate Landau levels and in driven quantum harmonic oscillator. Our scheme paves a novel way towards the investigation of the bosonic analogue of the fractional quantum Hall effect by electromagnetically induced transparency.
Present-day experiments have started to couple traditional simulations of ultracold atom experiments with quantum light-fields in cavities. This has provided a wealth of op- portunities to enlarge the number of interaction potentials: cavity mediated long-range interactions compete with kinetic energies, longitudinal fields, short-ranged collisional or magnetic spin-spin interactions. The intracavity many-body lattice models often have to be maintained far from equilibrium through the presence of external driving lasers that help to boost and engineer the various interaction potentials. The steady influx of energy is compensated by a steady stream of energy out of the atom-cavity system for example by photon losses or atomic spontaneous emission. Several experiments have demonstrated that such environments can give rise to new competing quantum phases. \nBut this long-standing ambition to push for models with tailorable interaction potentials can bring with it also considerable challenges in their theoretical description, since sponta- neous symmetry breaking transitions in many body lattice systems coupled to dynamical light-fields with single-photon character occur in the presence of drive and dissipation for the photonic force carriers. This clearly calls for model systems where the above men- tioned interplay of interactions, drive, dissipation and cooperative many-body behaviour can be theoretically studied to provide simple, experimentally verifiable predictions. \nThe Dicke model is, through its simplicity (an exactly solved ferromagnet with infinite range atom-atom interactions mediated by a single cavity mode), an exceptionally well- suited candidate. As the generic model for atom-light interactions, it has been experimen- tally realized in a variety of modern quantum optical systems, highlighting its relevance for present-day research. The Dicke model is also highly versatile itself. It has been extended into the dissipative realm, was promoted to account for multiple optical light modes and was used to describe multiple, coupled single-mode cavity structures. It was adapted to treat spin-selective coupling to a cavity to describe superradiance phase tran- sitions in multi-level atomic systems. Moreover, it was realised in electronic circuits where the dipole coupling of real atoms to single mode fields is replaced by a capacitive cou- pling of artificial atoms to a resonator mode. This illustrates that the Dicke model and its extended variants are ’future-proof’ and continue to be of relevance for fundamental light-matter interactions and for driven-dissipative phase transitions. \nIn this thesis, we investigate magnetic phase transitions in driven-dissipative atomic en- sembles interacting with quantum light. We present three research projects on variants of cooperative radiation of an ensemble of laser driven two-level atoms in a single mode optical cavity, as described by the Dicke model. \nThroughout the chapters 2,3 and 4 that contain the main body of research of this thesis, we investigate phase transitions between non-equilibrium stationary states in engineered quantum-optical systems each of which extends the conventional Dicke model physics. As a starting point, we map the quantum equations of motion onto a set of semiclassical nonlinear stochastic equations and analyse their stationary states and instabilities with master equations for atomic spin and photon mean-field amplitudes. These are used to obtain experimentally relevant parameters such as critical atom-light couplings for phase transitions, phase diagrams and properties of stationary non-equilibrium states in addition to cavity output spectra that identify the imprint of magnetic correlations in the light-field. \nIn chapter 2, we help resolve a discrepancy between earlier experimental investigations of the critical atom-light coupling strength for the superradiance transition in the Dicke model: higher external pumping strengths than theoretically predicted were needed to observe a coherent, superradiant state of the light field in an optical cavity. By including incoherent spontaneous emission of atomic excitations, we extend the dissipative Dicke model to a two loss channel variant containing both photon leakage and atomic decay that reproduces the experimentally observed critical atom-light coupling. \nRecent experiments have started to interface quantum many body lattice models with coherent cavity fields, thereby allowing to realize new quantum phases through competing atom-cavity and atom-atom interactions. In chapter 3, we consider a simplified model for such a set-up where a single quantized mode of the light-field interacts with an ensemble of Rydberg-dressed atoms inside a high finesse optical cavity. This model provides a base case for further studies of quantum magnets in optical cavities. At the heart of this model is a competition of short- (dipolar atom-atom) and long-range (atom-light) interactions at the Hamiltonian level in the presence of both spontaneous emission and photon leak- age through the cavity mirrors. We show that different magnetic phases can coexist with coherent atomic radiation and provide clear experimental signatures to identify the mag- netic structure and intra-cavity dynamics. We suggest an experimental level-scheme for a quantum optical implementation of our model. \nIn chapter 4 we consider a generic, collective decay for many-body excitations in the paradigmatic Dicke model. This extension drastically enriches the dynamics as it induces a bicritical point and a bistable regime dominated by true non-equilibrium fluctuations that induce a dissipative first-order phase transition that can only be resolved by including finite fluctuation corrections with the help of stochastic Langevin equations. We investigate the hysteretic response to time-dependent ramps of the atom-light coupling. Discontinuous first-order phase transitions where metastable states coexist in a hysteresis domain have been investigated in recent dissipative quantum-optical experiments. We review noise- activation far from thermal equilibrium in chapter 5.
The Rabi model considers a two-level system (or spin 1/2) coupled to a quantized harmonic oscillator and describes the simplest interaction between matter and light. The recent experimental progress in solid-state circuit quantum electrodynamics has engendered theoretical efforts to quantitatively describe the mathematical and physical aspects of the light-matter interaction beyond the rotating-wave approximation. We develop a stochastic Schr\"odinger equation approach which enables us to access the strong-coupling limit of the Rabi model and study the effects of dissipation and ac drive in an exact manner. We include the effect of Ohmic noise on the non-Markovian spin dynamics, resulting in Kondo-type correlations, as well as cavity losses. We compute the time evolution of spin variables in various conditions. As a consideration for future work, we discuss the possibility of reaching a steady state with one polariton in realistic experimental conditions.
Strong light-matter coupling gives rise to polaritons through coherent and periodic energy exchange between electromagnetic cavity fields and material excitations. While this interaction is typically inferred from spectral mode splitting, its dynamics remain largely unexplored. Here, using phase-resolved terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, we observe Rabi oscillations of Landau polaritons formed by coupling the cyclotron resonance in a GaAs/Al0.36_{0.36}0.36​Ga0.64_{0.64}0.64​As two-dimensional electron gas with Fabry-Perot cavity modes. By employing cross-polarized spectroscopy and magnetic-field differential, we resolve the temporal beating of the cyclotron resonance oscillations. Remarkably, we find that the Rabi oscillations do not start immediately after excitation of the cyclotron resonance, but after a delay corresponding to one cavity round-trip time. This demonstrates that the strong-coupling regime sets up only after the formation of the cavity mode field. Our results provide direct insight into the dynamics of hybrid light-matter states in the THz regime.