Abstract
We study an atom-cavity system composed of an ensemble of three-level atoms interacting with a high-finesse single-mode optical resonator. Two examples of physical models, the laser-driven -type atomic system and the three-level ladder-type atomic system, are investigated in detail. By altering the collective atom-cavity dynamics via an intracavity optical parametric amplification process, a spin-boson model is realized when the composite system operates in the far-detuning regime. When the number of atoms exceeds a critical value, the quantum system undergoes a superradiant phase transition whose dependence on different experimentally adjustable parameters is explored in detail. The effects of the spontaneous emission of atoms and the cavity loss on the phase transition are considered, and measuring the cavity output field itself gives an experimental probe of the superradiant phase transition.
9 More- Received 18 June 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.90.043824
©2014 American Physical Society