Simulating the Dicke lattice model and quantum phase transitions using an array of coupled resonators

Abstract

Abstract A proposal for simulating the Dicke-Lattice model in a mechanics-controlled hybrid quantum system is studied here. An array of coupled mechanical resonators (MRs) can homogeneously interact with a group of trapped Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) via the gradient magnetic field induced by the oscillating resonators. Assisted by the classical dichromatic radio-wave fields, each subsystem with the BEC-MR interaction can mimic the Dicke type spin-phonon interaction, and the whole system is therefore extended to a lattice of Dicke models with the additional adjacent phonon-phonon hopping couplings. In view of this lattice model with the Z 2 symmetry, its quantum phase transitions behavior can be controlled by this periodic phonon-phonon interactions in the momentum space. This investigation may be considered as a fresh attempt on manipulating the critical behaviors of the collective spins through the external mechanical method.