Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: We present a dynamical, multilevel atom-cavity blockade effect and monitor its breakdown transition in time. As in the case of optical bistability, atoms initially impede transmission by detuning a cavity mode from the driving laser. The interacting system, however, eventually transitions into an uncoupled state via a critical runaway process, resulting in maximum transmission. These two extremes of transmission are macroscopic reflections of well-defined atomic states, and thus are interpreted as phases of a dynamical transition. By monitoring the output of the cavity, we make time-resolved measurements of the order parameter and that of the enhanced photon number fluctuations. Considering these results for different cavity driving intensities, we establish finite-size scaling relations that suggest such a runaway effect is in fact a genuine dynamical phase transition.
Source: Physical Review A
Authors: T. W. Clark, A. Dombi, F. I. B. Williams, Á. Kurkó, J. Fortágh, D. Nagy, A. Vukics, P. Domokos
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Award: G919865051
OpenAlex ID: W3170015731