Experimental observation of a dissipative phase transition in a multi-mode many-body quantum system

Dissipative phase transitions are a characteristic feature of open systems. One of the paradigmatic examples for a first order dissipative phase transition is the driven nonlinear single-mode optical resonator. In this work, we study a realization with an ultracold bosonic quantum gas, which generalizes the single-mode system to many modes and stronger interactions. We measure the effective Liouvillian gap of the system and find evidence for a first order dissipative phase transition. Due to the multi-mode nature of the system, the microscopic dynamics is much richer and allows us to identify a non-equilibrium condensation process.

Automated summary

In this work, we study a multi-mode system of driven nonlinear optical resonator using an ultracold bosonic quantum gas. We measure the effective Liouvillian gap of the system and provide evidence for a first order dissipative phase transition. The multi-mode nature of the system allows us to identify a non-equilibrium condensation process.