On the phase transition of light in cavity QED lattices

Systems of strongly interacting atoms and photons, that can be realized wiring up individual cavity QED systems into lattices, are perceived as a new platform for quantum simulation. While sharing important properties with other systems of interacting quantum particles here we argue that the nature of light-matter interaction gives rise to unique features with no analogs in condensed matter or atomic physics setups. By discussing the physics of a lattice model of delocalized photons coupled locally with two-level systems through the elementary light-matter interaction described by the Rabi model, we argue that the inclusion of counter rotating terms, so far neglected, is crucial to stabilize finite-density quantum phases of correlated photons out of the vacuum, with no need for an artificially engineered chemical potential. We show that the competition between photon delocalization and Rabi non-linearity drives the system across a novel $Z_2$ parity symmetry-breaking quantum criticality between two gapped phases which shares similarities with the Dicke transition of quantum optics and the Ising critical point of quantum magnetism. We discuss the phase diagram as well as the low-energy excitation spectrum and present analytic estimates for critical quantities.Comment: 5+3 pages, published versio

Quantum entanglement of spin-1 bosons with coupled ground states in optical lattices

We examine particle entanglement, characterized by pseudo-spin squeezing, of spin-1 bosonic atoms with coupled ground states in a one-dimensional optical lattice. Both the superfluid and Mott-insulator phases are investigated separately for ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions. Mode entanglement is also discussed in the Mott insulating phase. The role of a small but nonzero angle between the polarization vectors of counter-propagating lasers forming the optical lattice on quantum correlations is investigated as well.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures. To be published in Journal of Physics

Quantum correlations of spin-1 atoms in an optical lattice

In this work, we investigate the system of cold spin-1 atoms in a one dimensional optical lattice in relation with squeezing and entanglement. By using the corresponding Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian, both superfluid and Mott-insulator phases are studied by using numerical methods in the mean-field approximation. To observe the presence of entanglement, we used a squeezing measure as a criterion for quantum correlations. We further investigate the two interaction regimes, namely ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic in the case of zero and nonzero but very small angle between the counterpropagating laser beams that form the optical lattice. States in the superfluid phase are calculated analytically by using the perturbation theory. © 2009 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd

Protein folding rates correlate with heterogeneity of folding mechanism

By observing trends in the folding kinetics of experimental 2-state proteins at their transition midpoints, and by observing trends in the barrier heights of numerous simulations of coarse grained, C-alpha model, Go proteins, we show that folding rates correlate with the degree of heterogeneity in the formation of native contacts. Statistically significant correlations are observed between folding rates and measures of heterogeneity inherent in the native topology, as well as between rates and the variance in the distribution of either experimentally measured or simulated phi-values.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Spin squeezing and entanglement

We reformulate definition of spin squeezing and spin coherence in terms of the total variance in spin operators. We propose a new measure of spin squeezing. We show equivalence of spin squeezing and spin entanglement. © 2007 Optical Society of America

Entanglement and its operational measure

An operational representation of concurrence measuring the entanglement of bipartite systems by means of averages of basic observables is discussed. We prove the validity of this representation for bipartite systems with any dimension of a single-party Hilbert space. We show that Wigner-Yanase "skew" information gives a reasonable estimation of the amount of entanglement (in ebits) carried by mixed two-qubit states. ©2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc

Quantifying quantum information via uncertainties

We show, for a state ψ of a quantum system with the dynamic symmetry given by the Lie group G, total amount of quantum information and entanglement is provided by summarized uncertainty of basic observables. © 2007 Optical Society of America

Entanglement of qutrits

For two types of qutrits specified by the dynamical symmetry SU(3) and SU(2), we consider the difference in entanglement caused by the lack of quantum observables in the latter case. In particular, we show that the SU(2) qutrits can have specific separable entanglement caused by quantum correlations of intrinsic degrees of freedom in a single party without interparty correlations. © Nauka/Interperiodica 2007

Quantum correlations among superradiant bose-einstein condensate atoms

Quantum correlations among atoms in superradiant Bose-Einstein condensates are discussed. It is shown that atoms in the superradiant atomic condensate can exhibit continuous variable quantum entanglement analogous to Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR)-type quantum correlations. Comparison to quantum entanglement in the Dicke model in thermal equilibrium is provided. Copyright © 2010 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd

Raman superradiance and spin lattice of ultracold atoms in optical cavities

We investigate synthesis of a hyperfine spin lattice in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate, with two hyperfine spin components, inside a one-dimensional high-finesse optical cavity, using off-resonant superradiant Raman scattering. Spatio-temporal evolution of the relative population of the hyperfine spin modes is examined numerically by solving the coupled cavity-condensate mean field equations in the dispersive regime. We find, analytically and numerically, that beyond a certain threshold of the transverse laser pump, Raman superradiance and self-organization of the hyperfine spin components simultaneously occur and as a result a magnetic lattice is formed. The effects of an extra laser pump parallel to the cavity axis and the time-dependence of the pump strength on the synthesis of a sharper lattice are also addressed.Comment: Accepted for publication in New Journal of Physics. 16 pages and 6 figure