Symmetry breaking and non-ergodicity in a driven-dissipative ensemble of multilevel atoms in a cavity.
RAMIREZ, Enrique Hernandez; SUAREZ, Elmer; LESANOVSKY, Igor; SANCHEZ, Beatriz Olmos; COURTEILLE, Philippe Wilhelm; SLAMA, Sebastian.
RAMIREZ, Enrique Hernandez; SUAREZ, Elmer; LESANOVSKY, Igor; SANCHEZ, Beatriz Olmos; COURTEILLE, Philippe Wilhelm; 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 87 Rb 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.
@article={003216013,author = {RAMIREZ, Enrique Hernandez; SUAREZ, Elmer; LESANOVSKY, Igor; SANCHEZ, Beatriz Olmos; COURTEILLE, Philippe Wilhelm; SLAMA, Sebastian.},title={Symmetry breaking and non-ergodicity in a driven-dissipative ensemble of multilevel atoms in a cavity},journal={Physical Review Research},note={v. 6, n. 3, p. L032072-1-L032072-6},year={2024}}