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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 25: Poster: Quantum Optics and Photonics I
Q 25.18: Poster
Tuesday, March 12, 2019, 16:30–18:30, S Atrium Informatik
Chiral Dynamics and Dissipation Induced Instability in a Quantum Gas — •Katrin Kroeger1, Nishant Dogra1, Manuele Landini2, Lorenz Hruby1, Francesco Ferri1, Rodrigo Rosa-Medina1, Tobias Donner1, and Tilman Esslinger1 — 1Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland — 2University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
The evolution of a quantum system is governed by two fundamental processes: unitary and dissipative. Unitary evolution is often used to prepare interesting quantum states, whereas dissipative processes can limit their purity and stability, thereby leading to stationarity. However, properly designed dissipation channels can play a beneficial role by enabling steady state non-equilibrium phases and novel phase transitions. Here, we experimentally realize a synthetic quantum many-body system with controllable competing unitary and dissipative interactions based on a spin mixture of ultracold Rb87 atoms coupled to an optical cavity [N. Dogra et al., arXiv 1901.05974]. Two orthogonal quadratures of the cavity mode are coherently coupled to two modes of the atomic system, differing in their spatial organization pattern, and the finite cavity loss mediates a dissipative chiral coupling between these modes. We study the emergence and characteristics of a non-stationary state with chiral dynamics and develop a simple two mode model to explain our observations. The physics can be mapped on the classical concept of a structural instability induced by dissipation.