Phase transitions in three-level systems in a cavity
Eduardo Nahmad-Achar, Sergio Cordero, Octavio Castaños, Ramón López–Peña · Physica Scripta · 2014
A system of three-level atoms interacting with a one-mode electromagnetic field in the dipolar and rotating wave approximations is studied. The order of the quantum phase transitions is determined explicitly for each of the configurations Ξ, Λ and V , with and without detuning. A semi-classical approximation to the exact quantum solution is built by projecting coherent field and matter states to a specific value of the total number of excitations. The states in parameter-space and the expectation values of relevant observables are obtained explicitly, and it is shown that those for the projected states offer an excellent approximation to the exact quantum solution. The exact form of the ground state near the triple point in the Ξ configuration is given.