https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-021-00416-2
Regular Article
Semiclassical bifurcations and quantum trajectories: a case study of the open Bose–Hubbard dimer
1
Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, Dunedin, New Zealand
2
Department of Mathematics, University of Auckland, 1142, Auckland, New Zealand
3
Department of Physics, Columbia University, 10027, New York, NY, USA
4
Department of Physics, University of Auckland, 1142, Auckland, New Zealand
Received:
28
September
2021
Accepted:
16
December
2021
Published online:
23
January
2022
We consider the open two-site Bose–Hubbard dimer, a well-known quantum mechanical model that has been realised recently for photons in two coupled photonic crystal nanocavities. The system is described by a Lindblad master equation which, for large numbers of photons, gives rise to a limiting semiclassical model in the form of a four-dimensional vector field. From the situation where both sites trap the same amount of photons under symmetric pumping, one encounters a transition that involves symmetry breaking, the creation of periodic oscillations and multistability as the pump strength is increased. We show that the associated one-parameter bifurcation diagram of the semiclassical model captures the essence of statistical properties of computed quantum trajectories as the pump strength is increased. Even for small numbers of photons, the fingerprint of the semiclassical bifurcations can be recognised reliably in observables of quantum trajectories.
© The Author(s) 2022
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