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Universal Phase Transitions of Matter in Optically Driven Cavities
Tsan Huang1, Zhiyuan Sun1,2
1Tsinghua University, State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics and Department of Physics, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
Physical Review Letters
|February 6, 2026
Summary
Pump light in optical cavities can drive phase transitions in solid-state materials. This ponderomotive effect creates a universal potential, leading to new nonequilibrium states in electron liquids and superconductors.
Area of Science:
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Quantum Optics
- Materials Science
Background:
- Optical cavities are used to control solid-state material properties.
- Incident pump light can drive systems into new states.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose that pump light in optical cavities induces generic phase transitions.
- To investigate the role of the ponderomotive potential in these transitions.
- To construct nonequilibrium phase diagrams for experimental devices.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical proposal of phase transitions induced by pump light.
- Analysis of the ponderomotive potential's steplike structure.
- Electromagnetic modeling of optical cavities and their modes.
- Construction of nonequilibrium phase diagrams.
Main Results:
- The ponderomotive potential induces generic phase transitions into nonequilibrium steady states.
- For a 2D electron liquid, density jumps to a smaller value, redshifting hybrid cavity photon modes.
- For a dirty superconductor, a first-order phase transition occurs, resulting in a smaller gap.
Conclusions:
- Driven optical cavities provide a mechanism for inducing and controlling phase transitions in quantum materials.
- The ponderomotive potential is a key factor in creating novel nonequilibrium steady states.
- The findings are relevant for designing and understanding experiments with driven cavity quantum systems.
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