Amplified response of cavity-coupled quantum-critical systems

A quantum critical point develops when matter undergoes a continuous transformation between distinct ground states at absolute zero. It hosts pronounced quantum fluctuations, which render the system highly susceptible to external perturbations. While light-matter coupling has rapidly moved forward as a means to probe and control quantum materials, the capacity of quantum critical fluctuations in the photon-mediated responses has been largely unexplored. Here we advance the notion that directly coupling a quantum critical mode to a quantized cavity field dramatically facilitates the realization of the elusive superradiant phase transition in equilibrium, circumventing at once the key obstacles that have prevented its attainment in spite of decades of pursuit. The superradiant phase transition develops far below the ultrastrong regime of light-matter couplings, and the transition is accompanied by the light-matter hybrid system showing strongly enhanced intrinsic squeezing and amplified quantum Fisher information. We also identify candidate cavity quantum materials platforms for validating the proposed effect. Our findings suggest a general principle by which quantum criticality amplifies the response to cavity photons. They also demonstrate that cavity coupling accesses the elevated quantum entanglement of the underlying matter at quantum criticality, thereby pointing to a pathway towards realizing the potential of highly collective quantum materials to expand the capacities of quantum information science. Quantum critical systems host strong fluctuations that can enhance their response to external fields. Here the authors show that directly coupling cavity-bound photons to a quantum critical material produces highly correlated light-matter states at modest light-matter couplings that access the matter’s enhanced quantum entanglement.