States of the light with broken symmetry

Ali Mehdinejad

Akira Furusawa

Petr Král, Ioannis Thanopulos, Moshe Shapiro

We show that entangled radiation-matter states with broken symmetries can be prepared by using nonclassical light in the coherent control techniques. We demonstrate the method by realizing the entanglement in degenerate continuum electronic momentum states of opposite directionality and discrete states of opposite handedness in chiral molecules. When the material system is excited simultaneously by classical light and quantum light in a state with several semiclassical phases, the interference conditions guide the system to such entangled radiation-matter states.

Kehang Zhu, Zhiping Yang, Qing-Dong Jiang +7 more

Abstract Understanding symmetry-breaking states of materials is a major challenge in the modern physical sciences. Quantum atmosphere proposed recently sheds light on the hidden world of these symmetry broken patterns. Yet, no experiment has been performed to demonstrate its potential. In our experiment, we prepare time-reversal-symmetry conserved and broken quantum atmosphere of a single nuclear spin and successfully observe their symmetry properties. Our work proves in principle that finding symmetry patterns from quantum atmosphere is conceptually viable. It also opens up entirely new possibilities in the potential application of quantum sensing in material diagnosis.

Sibel Başkal, Young S Kim, Marilyn E. Noz

Nikolai D. Klimkin, Misha Ivanov

Creation and manipulation of non-classical states of light is rapidly becoming the focus of modern attosecond science. Here, we demonstrate numerically how interaction with such states can trigger the emergence of a many-body system with spontaneously broken symmetry by considering a modification of the well-known problem of superradiance encountered already by Dicke. Similarly to him, we investigate photon emission by ensembles of indistinguishable atoms. In contrast to him, however, we leverage symmetry-based selection rules to suppress emission of single photons by single atoms. A steady state is therefore only reached following a spontaneous transition into a collective symmetry-broken state of atoms and photonic modes. This transition permanently locks the atomic dipoles to the quantum field experienced by the system at a particular instant, transforming the entire setup into a potent quantum sensor reproducing the phase of the recorded quantum fluctuation.