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Physica Scripta

Quantum simulations in phase-space: from quantum optics to ultra-cold physics

P. D. Drummond, S. Chaturvedi

Published Jun 27, 2016• 23 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract As a contribution to the international year of light, we give a brief history of quantum optics in phase-space, with new directions including quantum simulations of multipartite Bell violations, opto-mechanics, ultra-cold atomic systems, matter-wave Bell violations, coherent transport and quantum fluctuations in the early Universe. We mostly focus on exact methods using the positive- P representation, and semiclassical truncated Wigner approximations.

DOI
10.1088/0031-8949/91/7/073007

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Abstract As a contribution to the international year of light, we give a brief history of quantum optics in phase-space, with new directions including quantum simulations of multipartite Bell violations, opto-mechanics, ultra-cold atomic systems, matter-wave Bell violations, coherent transport and quantum fluctuations in the early Universe. We mostly focus on exact methods using the positive- P representation, and semiclassical truncated Wigner approximations.
Many-body quantum-optical systems, where a collection of emitters interacts through a common electromagnetic reservoir, exhibit rich out-of-equilibrium behavior and hold promise for applications in quantum technologies. However, exact numerical simulations of their dynamics quickly become unfeasible due to the exponential growth of the Hilbert space with system size. Semiclassical, phase-space approaches -- such as the Truncated Wigner approximation (TWA) -- provide computationally efficient alternatives by capturing leading-order quantum fluctuations. In this paper, we present a comprehensive overview of how to tackle problems in many-body quantum optics using phase-space methods. We derive the exact partial differential equation governing many-body dissipative evolution in any phase-space representation and discuss the approximations that yield the dissipative TWA proposed by Mink and Fleischhauer [SciPost Phys. 15, 233 (2023)]. We find that PPP and QQQ distributions are generally suboptimal for many-body quantum optics. Additionally, we extend the formalism to calculate multi-time correlation functions, thereby broadening the scope of phase-space simulations of open spin systems to include coherence and spectral properties, as well as directional correlations of collectively radiating emitters. These developments provide valuable tools for investigating exotic light sources driven by collective dissipation, driven-dissipative phase transitions, and a wealth of many-body phenomena arising in state-of-the-art experimental platforms.
Understanding the collective behaviour of many-body quantum systems is an important subject in many areas of physics. With advances in ultra-cold gas experiments, the dynamics of strongly-interacting systems can now be studied in the lab. However, there is a paucity of theoretical techniques available to simulate such systems. One technique is phase-space methods, often known as the Truncated Wigner Approximation; however, its applicability in its naive form is limited. In this work, we expound on techniques to expand the regimes in which it can be effective. This involves creating a novel phase-space that is tailored to the problem at hand, and associated classical equations of motion. We show techniques for lattice systems with local finite Hilbert spaces, for fermionic systems, and for many-body localized systems. In all cases, we benchmark the accuracy of the approximation against exact results.
Abstract The year 2015 was the International Year of Light. However, it also marked, the 20th anniversary of the first observation of Bose–Einstein condensation in atomic vapors by Eric Cornell, Carl Wieman and Wolfgang Ketterle. This discovery could be considered as one of the greatest achievements of quantum optics that has triggered an avalanche of further seminal discoveries and achievements. For this reason we devote this essay for the focus issue on ‘Quantum Optics in the International Year of Light’ to the recent revolutionary developments in quantum optics at the frontiers of all physics: atomic physics, molecular physics, condensed matter physics, high energy physics and quantum information science. We follow here the lines of the introduction to our book ‘Ultracold atoms in optical lattices: Simulating quantum many-body systems’ (Lewenstein et al 2012 Ultracold Atoms in Optical Lattices: Simulating Quantum Many-body Systems (Oxford: University Press)), and to a lesser extent the review article M Lewenstein et al (2007 Adv. Phys. 56 243 ). The book, however, was published in 2012, and many things has happened since then—the present essay is therefore upgraded to include the latest developments.
Interfaces of light and matter serve as a platform for exciting many-body physics and photonic quantum technologies. Due to the recent experimental realization of atomic arrays at sub-wavelength spacings, collective interaction effects such as superradiance have regained substantial interest. Their analytical and numerical treatment is however quite challenging. Here we develop a semiclassical approach to this problem that allows to describe the coherent and dissipative many-body dynamics of interacting spins while taking into account lowest-order quantum fluctuations. For this purpose we extend the discrete truncated Wigner approximation, originally developed for unitarily coupled spins, to include collective, dissipative spin processes by means of truncated correspondence rules. This maps the dynamics of the atomic ensemble onto a set of semiclassical, numerically inexpensive stochastic differential equations. We benchmark our method with exact results for the case of Dicke decay, which shows excellent agreement. For small arrays we compare to exact simulations, again showing good agreement at early times and at moderate to strong driving, and to a second order cumulant expansion. We conclude by studying the radiative properties of a spatially extended three-dimensional, coherently driven gas and compare the coherence of the emitted light to experimental results.
Abstract Light-matter interactions are an established field that is experiencing a renaissance in recent years due to the introduction of exotic coupling regimes. These include the ultrastrong and deep-strong coupling regimes, where the coupling constant is smaller and of the order of the frequency of the light mode, or larger than this frequency, respectively. In the past few years, quantum simulations of light-matter interactions in all possible coupling regimes have been proposed and experimentally realized, in quantum platforms such as trapped ions, superconducting circuits, cold atoms, and quantum photonics. We review this fledgling field, illustrating the benefits and challenges of the quantum simulations of light-matter interactions with quantum technologies.