# Dynamical Casimir effect in stochastic systems: photon-harvesting through noise

## TL;DR

This paper investigates the dynamical Casimir effect in a driven cavity, revealing a phase transition between photon growth and localization, and proposes a classical analogue using photonic lattices.

## Contribution

It introduces a phase transition framework for photon generation in a driven cavity and proposes a classical analogue with photonic lattices.

## Key findings

- Identified a threshold ratio between cavity and mirror frequencies affecting photon growth.
- Demonstrated dephasing can enhance photon production by breaking localization.
- Proposed a classical photonic lattice analogue of the quantum effect.

## Abstract

We theoretically investigate the dynamical Casimir effect in a single-mode cavity endowed with a driven off-resonant mirror. We explore the dynamics of photon generation as a function of the ratio between the cavity mode and the mirror's driving frequency. Interestingly, we find that this ratio defines a threshold---which we referred to as a metal-insulator phase transition---between an exponential growth and a low photon production. The low photon production is due to Bloch-like oscillations that produce a strong localization of the initial vacuum state, thus preventing higher generation of photons. To break localization of the vacuum state, and enhance the photon generation, we impose a dephasing mechanism, based on dynamic disorder, into the driving frequency of the mirror. Additionally, we explore the effects of finite temperature on the photon production. Concurrently, we propose a classical analogue of the dynamical Casimir effect in engineered photonic lattices, where the propagation of classical light emulates the photon generation from the quantum vacuum of a single-mode tunable cavity.