Exploring dissipative phase transitions in a quantum gas with long-range interactions
Dr. Tobias Donner (Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

Merging quantum gases with cavity QED allows to engineer long-range interactions between the atoms. If these interactions are sufficiently strong, phase transitions to self-organized crystalline structures of matter and light can take place. The dissipative nature of the cavity mode plays different roles in these experiments. On one hand it allows for a real-time observation of the fluctuations of the quantum gas when crossing the critical point and gives access to excitations of the system. On the other hand, if the dissipative terms dominate over the coherent couplings, the system can be driven into an unexpected chiral dynamical instability.