Light-mediated quantum phase transition and manipulations of the quantum states of arrayed two-level atoms

Abstract

In a quantum electrodynamics (QED) system of arrayed two-level atoms interacting with light, because the energy of the photon is around the spacing between two atomic energy levels, the photon will be absorbed and is not in the propagating mode but the attenuated mode. Our theoretical study shows that coherent phasing of atomic states occurs when the photons are in the attenuated mode. The existence of this ordered state is a result of a quantum phase transition induced by the mediation of the attenuated photonic field. By tuning the intensity of the light, the ordered state can be manipulated so that two-level atoms can be in an arbitrary uniform linear combination of the single-atom ground state and the excited state. Potential applications of this phenomenon are quantum computation, lasing physics, optical lattices and related subjects in nanotechnology. Similar phase transitions induced by the mediation of transmuted intermediate boson-like phonons, magnons or other fields may also occur in condensed-matter systems. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.