Symmetry breaking and non-ergodicity in a driven-dissipative ensemble of multilevel atoms in a cavity

Hernandez, Enrique; Suarez, Elmer; Lesanovsky, Igor; Olmos, Beatriz; Courteille, Philippe W.; Slama, Sebastian

Abstract

Dissipative light-matter systems can display emergent collective behavior. Here, we report a ℤ2-symmetry-breaking phase transition in a system of multilevel 87Rb atoms strongly coupled to a weakly driven two-mode optical cavity. In the symmetry-broken phase, nonergodic dynamics manifests in the emergence of multiple stationary states with disjoint basins of attraction. This feature enables the amplification of a small atomic population imbalance into a characteristic macroscopic cavity transmission signal. Our experiment does not only showcase strongly dissipative atom-cavity systems as platforms for probing nontrivial collective many-body phenomena, but also highlights their potential for hosting technological applications in the context of sensing, density classification, and pattern retrieval dynamics within associative memories.

Citation

Hernandez, E., Suarez, E., Lesanovsky, I., Olmos, B., Courteille, P. W., & Slama, S. (2024). Symmetry breaking and non-ergodicity in a driven-dissipative ensemble of multilevel atoms in a cavity. Physical Review Research, 6(3), Article L032072. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.6.l032072

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 10, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Sep 26, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-09
• Deposit Date: Oct 24, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 24, 2024
• Journal: Physical Review Research
• Electronic ISSN: 2643-1564
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 3
• Article Number: L032072
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.6.l032072
• Keywords: Cavity quantum electrodynamics; Dynamical phase transitions; Phase transitions; Quantum optics; Atomic ensemble; Atoms; Quantum many-body systems; Ultracold gases; Cavity resonators
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/40000409
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/prresearch/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.L032072