Photon Squeezing and Its Signatures of Quantum Phase Transitions in the Open Quantum Rabi-Stark Model

Abstract

As a hallmark of nonclassical light, squeezed light is of profound theoretical interest and holds broad practical promise for emerging quantum technologies. In this work, we investigate steady-state optical quadrature squeezing in the open quantum Rabi-Stark model by employing the quantum dressed master equation. Both numerically and analytically, we find that positive (negative) Stark coupling tends to enhance (suppress) the squeezing effect. The quadrature squeezing exhibits distinct signatures associated with both first- and second-order quantum phase transitions (QPTs). Notably, a sharp vanishing of squeezing is observed across the first-order QPT, suggesting its potential as a sensitive probe of such transitions. In the vicinity of the second-order QPT, we further demonstrate that the squeezing factor displays finite-size scaling behavior, indicating a promising route toward the realization of near-perfect squeezing. Moreover, we establish a quantitative criterion for the disruption of quantum criticality induced by thermal fluctuations, which may offer valuable guidance for future experiments. These findings contribute to a deep understanding of nonclassical light in light-matter interacting systems and provide useful insights for the design of strong optical squeezing states.