We propose a scheme to simulate topological physics within a single degenerate cavity, whose modes are mapped to lattice sites. A crucial ingredient of the scheme is to construct a sharp boundary so ...that the open boundary condition can be implemented for this effective lattice system. In doing so, the topological properties of the system can manifest themselves on the edge states, which can be probed from the spectrum of an output cavity field. We demonstrate this with two examples: a static Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain and a periodically driven Floquet topological insulator. Our work opens up new avenues to explore exotic photonic topological phases inside a single optical cavity.
We propose a scheme which can realize an extended two-component Bose-Hubbard model using polaritons confined in an array of optical cavities. In addition to the density-dependent interactions, this ...model also contains nonlinear coupling terms between the two components of the polariton. Using a mean-field calculation, we obtain the phase diagram which shows how these terms affect the transition between the Mott insulator and the superfluid phase. In addition, we employ both a perturbation approach and an exact diagonalization method to gain more insights into the phase diagram.
We present a scheme for engineering the extended two-component Bose-Hubbard model using polariton condensate supported by optical microcavity. Compared to the usual two-component Bose-Hubbard model ...with only Kerr nonlinearity, our model includes a nonlinear tunneling term which depends on the number difference of the particle in the two modes. In the mean field treatment, this model is an analog to a nonrigid pendulum with a variable pendulum length whose sign can be also changed. We study the dynamic and ground state properties of this model and show that there exists a first-order phase transition as the strength of the nonlinear tunneling rate is varied. Furthermore, we propose a scheme to obtain the polariton condensate wave function.
We study the phase transitions in a one dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate on a ring whose atomic scattering length is modulated periodically along the ring. By using a modified Bogoliubov method ...to treat such a nonlinear lattice in the mean field approximation, we find that the phase transitions are of different orders when the modulation period is 2 and greater than 2. We further perform a full quantum mechanical treatment based on the time-evolving block decimation algorithm which confirms the mean field results and reveals interesting quantum behavior of the system. Our studies yield important knowledge of competing mechanisms behind the phase transitions and the quantum nature of this system.