Work

Polarization-resolved photon statistics of cavity quantum materials

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: By forming hybrid light-matter states, optical cavities offer a route for engineering material properties, however, unambiguously probing the effects of light-matter coupling remains difficult. Here, we show that the polarization-resolved statistics of photons transmitted through a cavity, measurable via $g^{(2)}$, provide one such diagnostic. By relating $g^{(2)}$ to matter correlation functions such as the Raman structure factor, we link photon bunching and antibunching to material properties. By applying this method to the stripy-to-antiferromagnetic transition in the Kitaev-Heisenberg spin model, we find that polarization-dependent patterns of bunching and antibunching encode the magnetic point-group symmetries of each phase and characterize the behavior at the phase boundary. Finally, we predict measuring $g^{(2)}$ for output photon pairs polarized orthogonal to the input field will isolate higher-order light-matter scattering processes that probe higher-order material correlations.

Source: Physical review. B./Physical review. B

DOI: 10.1103/34vt-61w5

Authors: Benjamin Kass, Spenser Talkington, Martin Claassen

Institution: University of Pennsylvania

Language: English

Topic: Strong Light-Matter Interactions

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Charles E. Kaufman Foundation

Awards: G3072816452, G9000370618