Dicke-Model Quantum Spin and Photon Glass in Optical Cavities: Nonequilibrium Theory and Experimental Signatures

Abstract

In the context of ultracold atoms in multimode optical cavities, the appearance of a quantum-critical glass phase of atomic spins has been predicted recently. Due to the long-range nature of the cavity-mediated interactions, but also the presence of a driving laser and dissipative processes such as cavity photon loss, the quantum optical realization of glassy physics has no analog in condensed matter and could evolve into a “cavity glass microscope” for frustrated quantum systems out of equilibrium. Here we develop the nonequilibrium theory of the multimode Dicke model with quenched disorder and Markovian dissipation. Using a unified Keldysh path integral approach, we show that the defining features of a low-temperature glass, representing a critical phase of matter with algebraically decaying temporal correlation functions, are seen to be robust against the presence of dissipation due to cavity loss. The universality class, however, is modified due to the Markovian bath. The presence of strong disorder leads to an enhanced equilibration of atomic and photonic degrees of freedom, including the emergence of a common low-frequency effective temperature. The imprint of the atomic spin-glass physics onto the photon subsystem realizes a “photon glass” state and makes it possible to detect the glass state by standard experimental techniques of quantum optics. We provide an unambiguous characterization of the superradiant and glassy phases in terms of fluorescence spectroscopy, homodyne detection, and the temporal photon correlation function g(2)(τ).