Dynamics of spin glass formation under tunable fluctuations in frustrated cavity QED experiments

Hossein Hosseinabadi, Darrick E. Chang, Jamir Marino

Published 2023-11-09Version 1

We solve the dynamics of multi-mode cavity QED with frustrated atom-photon couplings using non-perturbative diagrammatics. Our technique enables a thorough investigation of the nature of the spin glass transition hosted in these platforms. We focus in particular on the role of quantum noise in each of the atomic ensembles which form the frustrated spin network modeling the experiment. We report on the stabilizing effect of strong quantum fluctuations in fostering a glassy phase over extended time scales. At variance with this behaviour, in the semi-classical limit, spin glass order is instead pre-thermally obstructed by the ferromagnetic correlations present at the level of individual atomic ensembles, which substantially delay spin glass formation. Our results set the stage for studying cavity QED experiments with tunable quantum fluctuations, and accompanying them in the transition from semi-classical to strongly correlated operational regimes.