Many-Body Quantum Electrodynamics Networks: Non-Equilibrium Condensed Matter Physics with Light

TL;DR

This review explores recent advances in non-equilibrium many-body quantum physics with light, focusing on superconducting circuits, Josephson junctions, QED networks, and topological phases, highlighting experimental and theoretical progress.

Contribution

It synthesizes recent developments in engineering and understanding non-equilibrium quantum many-body systems with light, including novel models and phases in superconducting and photonic systems.

Findings

Josephson junctions can mimic the Kondo effect with microwave photons

QED networks enable realization of Jaynes-Cummings and Rabi lattice models

Topological phases with synthetic gauge fields have been theoretically predicted

Abstract

We review recent developments concerning non-equilibrium quantum dynamics and many-body physics with light, in superconducting circuits and Josephson analogues. We start with quantum impurity models summarizing the effect of dissipation and of driving the system. We mention theoretical and experimental efforts to characterize these non-equilibrium quantum systems. We show how Josephson junction systems can implement the equivalent of the Kondo effect with microwave photons. The Kondo effect is characterized by a renormalized light-frequency and a peak in the Rayleigh elastic transmission of a photon. We also address the physics of hybrid systems comprising mesoscopic quantum dot devices coupled to an electromagnetic resonator. Then, we discuss extensions to Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) Networks allowing to engineer the Jaynes-Cummings lattice and Rabi lattice models. This opens the door to novel many-body physics with light out of equilibrium, in relation with the Mott-superfluid transition observed with ultra-cold atoms in optical lattices. Then, we summarize recent theoretical predictions for realizing topological phases with light. Synthetic gauge fields and spin-orbit couplings have been successfully implemented with ultra-cold atoms in optical lattices --- using time-dependent Floquet perturbations periodic in time, for example --- as well as in photonic lattice systems. Finally, we discuss the Josephson effect related to Bose-Hubbard models in ladder and two-dimensional geometries. The Bose-Hubbard model is related to the Jaynes-Cummings lattice model in the large detuning limit between light and matter. In the presence of synthetic gauge fields, we show that Meissner currents subsist in an insulating Mott phase.